


Read All About It.

by darlingjongin



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Domestic, Established Relationship, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Romantic Comedy, Superheroes, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-15 21:51:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14798627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingjongin/pseuds/darlingjongin
Summary: Baekhyun works at a gossip magazine that specialises in exposing superheroes’ secret identities, and their most recent target is Kai. However, Baekhyun’s boyfriend, Jongin, does not approve of this new venture and seems intent on persuading him to drop the investigation.





	Read All About It.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt:  #362  
> Pairing: Kaibaek  
> Side paring/s: Suyeol  
> Rating: Teen and Up  
> Warnings: language

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The fire burns brighter in the main city hall, sirens which blared from all sides of the roads prepared to aid the injured hero who limped towards the fury. It was another attack, laid perfectly in the midst of chaos and uncertainty. The gun fires were louder than the screams of bystanders who were still scattered in and around the city, much to Kai’s dismay as he looks over to his partner, LOEY, still crawling on the floor after a recent hit from the attacker.

‘You telling me that these idiots are humans?’, LOEY whispers into their earpiece, looking up to Kai who looks around at the situation.

‘Humans have guns. Just as dangerous as any other villains’, Kai responds, running and jumping up onto a wrecked car, taking a closer look at the van which began to speed towards them, windows down and guns at the ready, ‘They look hysteric…’, Kai whispers, jumping down and finally helping up LOEY to his feet, ‘But they’re too distracted. LOEY, target yourself, I’m going to go in and spike their tyres. When I’ done, shoot at them’, he orders, not giving his partner enough time to recuperate before he disappears from view, LOEY winching in pain but doing as he’s told, breathing to relax himself before he reaches out both his hands, firing flames at their direction, keeping the guns pointed at him as he waits for Kai.

Kai, on the other hand, zaps into view, closer to where the car is, seeing the cracks of the streets from the previous explosion, the atmosphere getting hotter as LOEY’s flames transpire to bury the buildings into ashes. This was going to bite them in the ass when the reporters come in, but as of right now, all Kai can think about it trying to stop the reckless van from going further into the city.

‘Alright Kai, let’s see what we have here’, he teleports himself closer to a wrecked building, picking up a scrap metal, struck by the explosion, edges torn and sharp, ‘This will do’, he smiles to himself, preparing for the perfect moment to run and strike the tyres. He looks over to the distance, seeing LOEY back on his feet and fighting. The van drives closer, accelerating in speed and running over scraps of rubble.

Closer. Just one more –

Before Kai can run towards the car, he sees a flash of movement right by the side of his eyes, distracting him from the target, his head instantly speeding to the left to where he finds a bystander, a totally unprotected person is only a few meters away from him and the perpetrators.

‘You!’, Kai shouts, ‘What the hell are you doing here?! You shouldn’t be here!’, he screams, about to go over to the man who awkwardly stood behind a car with a camera in his hand, but he heard shouts from the distance, one coming from his partner.

‘Kai!’, LOEY screams out as soon as he noticed that the van was still driving with no signs of stopping, driving pass the initial target point which will set a disadvantage to a still injured LOEY.

‘Goddammit’, Kai whispers, glaring at the man who just simply smiled awkwardly at him, waving as if he was in a normal situation. Kai didn’t have time for this, he quickly teleports to where the car is, quickly striking all four tyres in less than three seconds, the van erupting as all four tyres bursts into flames with the help of Chanyeol. Kai quickly holds onto the door of the van, opening it, his hands already gripping onto the driver’s shirt, pulling him out and letting the van accelerate into one of the city walls, the rest of the group inside the car being hit in the impact.

The man beneath Kai did not know what defeat was, grabbing a knife hidden inside his jacket, hysterically swaying his hand in the hopes that the metal edge will strike Kai, but the superhero had other things to worry about, so he quickly spins the man around, pinning him harshly onto a bricked wall, the shouts of pain coming out of the man’s mouth.

‘You’re lucky you’re still alive’, Kai whispers, tightening his grip around the man’s throat, ‘And you’re lucky LOEY’s not the one dealing with you right now’, and with that, he knocks the man out with one punch.

‘Did we get him? Did we get the guy?’, he hears the heavy breathing of LOEY in his earpiece, tired and done with life but it’s okay. At least their mission is a success.

‘Don’t worry. We got the guy’, Kai replies, looking around for some kind of rope to tie the bastard out.

‘Looks like you’ve got another thing going on’, Kai hears LOEY’s tired voice, but now, it was tinted with a playful tone, one which made him instantly turn around to find that the man with the camera still hadn’t moved from his spot, but this time smiling as he takes pictures of Kai capturing the bad guy.

‘He’s going to be the death of me’

 

* * *

 

 

‘Why are you even dating him?’, Chanyeol comments the moment they’re inside their locker room, the meeting with the Police department lasting longer than expected since the explosion did wreck quite a few buildings and injuring many people. Kai was suffocating in his stupid mask throughout the whole thing, jealous that LOEY got to sit out due to his injuries.

Thank god, they were now just Jongin and Chanyeol, both their masks gone.

‘Leave him alone, he means no harm’, Jongin responds, hissing as he tries to put on his shirt but accidentally touching the graze on his elbow. He can hear Chanyeol winced in pain as he tries to bend down and pull his jeans up. It was during these moments where Jongin would question their decisions to become heroes, the both of them not looking their best and in fact looking more battered than the criminals themselves.

‘He’s a journalist working for Essence’, Chanyeol snorts, laughing at Jongin who slowly tries to put on his jacket, ‘Essence is every hero’s worst nightmare. You are literally sleeping with the enemy’, Chanyeol chuckles, too proud of his pun to notice Jongin glaring at him.

‘Essence may be cheap but Baekhyun isn’t. He’s a real journalist just looking for a stepping stone and Essence happen to be one of them’, Jongin defends his boyfriend, although, he was still pissed at him about the previous debacle.

‘Whatever you say boss’, Chanyeol smirks, bending down as he ties his shoelaces, the two heroes spending the rest of their time in silence with a couple of requests to help each other button their shirts and zip their jackets.

The two heroes, no longer in the spotlight, escapes between the cracks of reporters shouting at the Chief of Police with microphones in hand and cameras following them. They pass the Police Department which was swarming with reporters. Jongin felt relieved that he didn’t need to pull his hoodie up to hide from anyone, walking passes the oblivious crowd and off onto the next street where everything is much quieter, the high street shops still running, cars zooming past them as the afternoon turns into evening, the orange hues already starting to fill up the skies.

‘But hypothetically…’, Chanyeol begins, and with his tone, Jongin knows exactly what follows, ‘What if… Let’s say since Baekhyun is a newbie… Let’s say they force him to work on a story about you’, Jongin rolls his eyes, ignoring Chanyeol as they continue to walk pass elderlies and mothers with strolls, their children sucking on a pacifier, looking up at them with wide curious eyes. Chanyeol always does this with Jongin, even during gatherings where other heroes would curiously wait for Jongin’s answer since he was the only hero who ever dared a journalist.

‘They’re not going to do that’, Jongin replies, ‘They’re too busy trying to find your true identity’, Jongin points his finger as they passed a stall, magazines placed in straight lines, a picture of LOEY in one of the front covers with the headlines, ‘Possible identity of LOEY revealed’.

‘They could’ve chosen a better picture’, Chanyeol pouts, looking at the tacky cover photo, a picture which was born during his first shooting as a hero almost five years ago, his suit bright orange and hideous compared to his improved salamander orange suit which hugged his figure much better.

‘That photo is so iconic though’, Jongin laughs, ‘Isn’t it like a massive meme?’, this earns Jongin a punch from the tall hero, the both of them wincing once more since Chanyeol used his bruised knuckle.

‘Laugh all you want, but the moment your own boyfriend exposes you to the public, I’ll be the one laughing’

 

* * *

 

‘Byun Baekhyun’, Jongin glares the moment Baekhyun walks inside their apartment, Jongin sporting an apron, his hand on his hips and foot tapping impatiently as Baekhyun ignores his tone, smiling as he takes off his shoes and races over to give him a quick kiss.

‘What’s up babe?’, he replies, walking over to check out what Jongin was making.

‘What do you mean what’s up? I heard from your colleagues what you did today’, Jongin crossed his arms together, waiting patiently for Baekhyun to stop avoiding the subject, ‘You’ve gone off in the middle of a fight again, haven’t you?’, Baekhyun looks down, grabbing a strawberry from a bowl placed in the middle of their kitchen table.

‘It’s not that big of a deal’

‘Not that big – Baekhyun, half the city was torn from that fight! You expect me to be okay thinking you were right in the middle of it?’, Jongin raises his voice, but it didn’t stop Baekhyun’s playful manner as he skips over to where he is, instantly wrapping his arms around his waist.

‘Why are you worrying? Kai was there and we all know he was going to save the day’, Baekhyun smugly rests his chin on Jongin’s shoulder, not knowing the sudden pain he later felt when he puts pressure on the bruise hidden by his shirt. Jongin keeps a poker face.

‘It’s not guaranteed that he’d save the day. He’s not invincible’

Oh, don’t worry about it. I accidentally distracted him but he still managed to catch the bad guy’, Baekhyun didn’t help his case as Jongin turns off the stove, the beef stew that he was making now a little bit overcooked, ‘He even spoke to me… Well, shouted, but he was still cute’

‘Cute? Baekhyun he’s in a suit with his face covered. How can he be cute? Plus, you shouldn’t be so close that Kai can literally have a conversation with you’

‘Why? Jealous’, Baekhyun giggles, sitting down on one of the chairs pursed by the kitchen, ‘Don’t worry babe, I still think you look cuter’, Jongin rolls his eyes, trying to hide the pain he felt whenever Baekhyun squeezed him tight. How ironic. Him being jealous of Kai.

‘Just… Don’t go around doing that again…’, Jongin sighs, giving up as he turns back to where the kitchen table is, Baekhyun already helping himself with dinner, plates ready since Jongin prepared it beforehand.

‘How was your work? Tough at the restaurant again?’, Baekhyun changes the subject, this time, Jongin lets him, gulping the chicken stew he made down, which Jongin noticed. Baekhyun probably hadn’t eaten all day, ‘Luckily it wasn’t hit by the attack today’

Jongin can only stare at Baekhyun, sighing as he sits in front of his boyfriend, seeing the way his cheeks puff as he stuffs his mouth with more food, rice resting at the sides of his lips, his glasses sliding down to the tip of his nose.

‘You really are going to be the death of me’, Jongin whispers, Baekhyun not hearing it as he was too busy scrolling through his phone, looking at countless videos of the fight today. Jongin reaches out his hand to wipe the rice off Baekhyun’s lips.

 

* * *

 

‘Byun Baekhyun!’, his senior calls out the moment he steps out of the elevators, his bag stuffed with his laptop and countless files he’d been collecting for the past couple of weeks.

‘Yes sir’, Baekhyun calls out, quickening his pace, trying to catch up with his superior who continued to walk, not waiting for him to catch up before he started giving him orders.

‘Your photos on Kai and LOEY’s fight yesterday has gone viral’, he shouts out so the rest of the floor can hear, many people giving the new guy a thumbs up for his hard work yesterday. Not everyone had the guts to dive straight into where the fight was to get some good quality photos, many thought Baekhyun was crazy when he ran the opposite way during the city evacuation.

‘Thank you, sir’, Baekhyun couldn’t help but smile, his eyes looking down as he shyly accepts his good work. It’s been the first time he’s had any form of compliment since starting his job at Essence.

‘But now, since your photos have been spreading all over the internet, it looks like the public has got a new obsession’, his superior shouts out, not really knowing how to speak in normal tone as he claps his hands, gaining everyone’s attention, their eyes diverting from their computer screens to the small man standing next to Baekhyun with a smart suit, ‘Everyone is now interested in Kai!’

‘You mean, people are curious about his identity?’, one of Baekhyun’s co-workers responds, everyone looking at each other, then looking back at their screens which were full of open tabs of research and blog posts about another hero and his real identity.

‘That’s right ladies and gentlemen!’, the head of Essence gossip page announces, ‘The whole world has been slowing turning their gaze to Kai and we need to feed them what they want’, a flood of groans was received as everyone silently cursed at the change of target. They’ve been digging up months-worth of information about LOEY and now they were going to just drop him and start again from scratch? Everyone turns to Baekhyun with a glare.

‘Do we really have to reveal their identity? Kai doesn’t seem to want-’

‘Chen didn’t want his identity to be uncovered but it made our monthly spread a hot seller’, his superior interrupts him, reminding everyone the time they unravelled Chen the lightning man himself be nothing more than a mechanic working downtown. It was hot news and Essence got first grabs for it. Everyone got a raise in their department, ‘Let me remind you all. Our goal is to expose hero’s identity. It’s not our problem if they don’t want us to know. Our job is to please the people, not the heroes. Got it?’

Baekhyun sighs, nodding his head in agreement as the Head of the Department turns to finish his announcement to the whole floor, turning away towards his office, but before doing so, he looks at Baekhyun.

‘I want you to head the next spread’, he points to the new guy, ‘Find out Kai’s real identity by next month’

‘What? How am I supposed to-’

‘Next month’, his superior interrupts him, stamping his demand before Baekhyun can complain, ‘So chop chop Mr Byun’, Baekhyun is left alone, turning to see the whole floor raising their brows at him. He brought this onto himself and everyone knows it.

‘Well…’, Baekhyun whispers to himself, combing his hair back, ‘I guess I better start somewhere’

 

* * *

 

 

 

Chen laughs – well, Kim Jongdae at the moment – the hero walking out of the Institute of Heroic Actions building, his shades on, taking the back exit since he no longer had the privilege to walk out unattended and he refused to have a bodyguard.

‘You wanna know who Kai is?’, Jongdae laughs one more time the moment he sees Baekhyun waiting by the alleyway which leads towards a small parking lot for the employees of IHA. The young journalist already behind his tails asking countless of questions about nonother than rising star hero, Kai.

‘Look, I know you would never snake a friend out, but do you have at least any information on his whereabouts? Where he hangs out with and with who?’, Baekhyun asks, not really sure if this was going to work since Chen had been so anti-Essence the moment his identity was released and his house was swarmed with reporters.

‘And why would I tell them to you? An Essence journalist?’, Jongdae laughs, clapping his hands together like a seal which confused Baekhyun for a moment since he found nothing in their conversation as a laughing matter. Little did he know…

‘Um… Essence is currently linked and sponsored by Marc Jacobs. We can offer you an endorsement deal-’

‘You’re offering me another chance to be on camera for solid information about Kai? Baekhyun, I thought you could do better than that’, Jongdae continues to chuckle, unlocking his car door the moment he sees his red Maserati at the end of the parking lot.

‘I think it’s valid… Wait… How do you know my name?’, Baekhyun pauses, turning back, trying to remember if he stated his name to him when he walked out the door, but he clearly only remembered introducing himself as an Essence journalist.

‘That’s my answer right there’, Jongdae ends the conversation, walking over to the driver’s seat.

‘Excuse me?’

‘You wanted me to tell you who Kai hangs out with? Well, I’ve already answered it’, Jongdae takes off his shades, looking Baekhyun up and down before chuckling again, ‘You’re cute, there’s no lie in that. I'm not surprised that he’s so into you’

‘I have no idea what-’

‘See you later Baekhyun’, Jongdae waves him off before Baekhyun can ask any more questions, rolling the windows up and blocking Baekhyun with his new tinted windows he got. Baekhyun didn’t know what to say, but he had to admit that this was a total failure and seeing that not only did Jongdae ignore his questions but made no sense when he opened his mouth. Baekhyun concluded that asking other heroes were not a good idea.

 

* * *

 

Kai looks across the city, in search of LOEY as he races his way to the other side. He zooms past bystanders, eager to take a photo of him once they see flashes of his suit, a dim purple which flashes across a bunch of children with mouths agape, their fingers pointing at the superhero in front of them.

‘Is that Kai?’, one of them shout, Kai turning to gaze at them, giving them a wave before disappearing again, appearing on the other side of town.

‘LOEY, have you got anything?’

‘A truck of bank robbers’, the voice of his partner responds, his intercom signals wavering due to his teleportation. At the sound of LOEY’s voice, he immediately runs to the scene, joining the tall hero, flames bolting out of the palm of his hands as he points to the racing van, all black and past the speed limit, making a violent turn and hitting a lamppost on the way out of the superheroes sight.

‘Don’t bother’, Kai pats LOEY’s shoulder in assurance, ‘I’ve got this’

‘You better!’, his partner shouts before he can disappear, allowing Kai to take care of the robbers. And to no one’s surprise, Kai teleports right in front of the car, a few meters ahead of them, his eyes falling into gaze with the driver of the car, a gunman sitting right beside him. He takes in note of the weapon and notes to stir the van away from the public, noticing that he’s in the same area as where the group of children are. He turns his head to the left and sure enough, they haven’t left, the children laughing and eating ice cream peacefully inside an ice cream parlour.

‘Not today’, Kai hears himself whisper, not wanting the little children to witness any fights. Instead, he allows the van to race forward, grabbing hold of the small pocket knife he held beside his belt.

‘Kai!’, he hears a voice shouting at him from the corner of his view, a scrawny journalist with glasses that slides down his nose, waving frantically at him, distracting him for a moment as he watches Baekhyun stand by the sidewalk next to him, the camera he bought him for Christmas hanging down his neck.

What the fuck does he think he’s doing?!

Kai is freaking out, worrying for the boy with little to no common sense, his concentration straying, allowing the van to hit him at full speed. Kai grimaced at the sudden impact, feeling the van speed ahead, his eyes looking up to find the guy with the gun reloading and aiming at the weapon straight to his face.

‘Kai! What are you doing?! Get out of there!’, Chanyeol shouts, lighting his palm, ready to attack, jumping onto a school bus, his aim on the driving van.

‘I’m going to kill him when I get home’, Kai hisses, holding onto the header of the car before zapping out of the city street with the van, Chanyeol stopping his flames just as he was about to throw it in the street, the silence echoing the once noisy street, bystanders walking out of the shop and taking videos of Kai teleporting straight to the police station with a driving van full of bank robbers.

‘Kai!’, the Chief Police of Seoul screams the moment he hears crashing coming out of his office, his feet racing out as he spots a black SUV parked right inside of the police station, walls broken along with everything else in the reception room, police officers inspecting the scene to find all the bank robbers knocked out, Kai holding onto a machine gun along with the car keys, opening the boot of the car to release the millions of cash stolen.

‘It was either this or another burnt street’, Kai defends himself the moment he looks up to see the familiar frustrating expression the Chief Police gave him the moment they made eye contact, ‘Take your pick’, he holds his hand up in surrender, dropping the machine gun which made a thudding noise, a moment of silence as the other police officers stare at the unconscious culprits, a printer setting itself on fire due to the car’s impact on it, the smoke alerting the fire alarm, the roaring sound of the beeps along with the sprinklers pissing the Chief Police, even more, his uniform getting wet as he stood in anger.

‘I need you in my office. Now!’

‘Shouldn’t we evacuate the building? There’s a fire-’

‘Kai! Inside, now!’

 

* * *

 

‘Dude, someone’s getting into trouble’, Chanyeol whispers, the two heroes still in their suit as they stand in front of a podium, dozens of reporters shoving microphones at them, asking thousands of questions at a time, one which they could barely hear due to the excessive screaming.

‘Don’t fucking rub it’, Jongin hisses, trying to keep his posture professional, allowing the Chief Police to answer the questions first before the reporters jump onto asking the heroes themselves. Jongin had gotten into trouble for damaging government property even though he had every reason to do it. He was merely just taking the criminals to jail, what was wrong in that?

$4,000 worth of damages is what was wrong in that, money which will obviously be pulled out of people’s taxes, so he’s not going to be the most popular hero for a few weeks. Chanyeol continues to snigger beside Kai, having the time of his life once he spots a certain light brown man pushing past other reporters.

‘Your little glimmer of light is heading your way…’, Chanyeol warns his partner, biting his bottom lip to suppress a laugh once the mic is handed to them, the inaudible shouts increasing once the heroes step forward to answer any other questions.

_‘Kai! Why did you allow the van to hit you?’_

_‘Is it true that the criminals escaped from prison last year?’_

_‘LOEY, how is it partnering up with Kai?’_

_‘Kai, has LOEY ever used his powers unprofessionally?’_

So many questions and 80% of them being useless had had nothing to do with the situation at hand, but Kai and LOEY just smile, their mask covering most of their face, their eyes scanning the area. Kai tries to ignore the young man’s questions, the man in front of him waving a small tape recorder, his glasses sliding down. He noticed the glasses were dirty and it irritated him to the core.

‘Kai, what is your favourite meal to eat?’, Baekhyun was spurting random questions which did not correlate to anything, Chanyeol hearing a few and chuckling from time to time, answering his questions carefully without trying to reveal anything, straining his voice so it differs from his usual one.

‘Kai, have you watched the recent drama with big star Yoona?’

‘Do you think she’s pretty?’

‘Have you ever travelled the world? Or are you dead set in staying in just Korea?’

‘How do you take your coffee?’

Kai closes his eyes, answering someone else’s questions about the hardship of being a superhero, trying to be as well-spoken and professional as he can, biting the inside of his cheeks. He didn’t want to belittle Baekhyun, he didn’t want to start thinking of him like how his peers would think of him, but my god if he doesn’t start asking proper questions, he was going to lose it.

Come on Baekhyun, you could do better than that.

Baekhyun, in an attempt to get Kai to speak to him, pushes past another reporter, which in tow, ended up violently since the man’s camera hits him straight in the face, causing his glasses to come flying out, his hands covering nose at the sudden impact.

‘Shit’, LOEY mutters, looking down to find Baekhyun bent over and bloodied by the looks of his hands which drizzled blood.

Kai, on instinct, jumps down the small stage he was in, running straight to the young journalist, his hands wrapped around his neck as he tilts the boy’s head to the side, inspecting his bloodied nose.

‘Bloody hell’, he whispers, his voice hoarse, keeping up with his mysterious persona, ‘Does anyone have a tissue?!’, he screams out, the rest of the reporters looking down and reaching for their pockets in search for a tissue or a handkerchief.

‘Kai…’, Baekhyun breathes out, smiling the moment they finally made eye contact, Kai trying his best to look down just in case Baekhyun felt any familiarity, ‘Now that I have your attention, can I ask you a question?’, Baekhyun, being one of a kind, disregards his bloodied nose, letting the blood flow down as he presses his tape recorder.

‘What is it?’, Kai sighs in defeat, still holding onto Baekhyun, acknowledging the floods of lights flashing around him, knowing that this was going to bite him in the ass tomorrow morning in the newspaper.

‘What’s your favourite movie?’, Baekhyun smiles, the blood making its way down his open lips, making Kai shake his head in disbelief.

‘Do you really wanna know?’, Kai laughs, soft and hearty, barely audible mixed with the continuous screaming, ‘I’m dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it’s the honest ones you want to watch out for because you can never predict when they’re going to do something incredibly stupid’, he whispers to Baekhyun, the young journalist scrunching his brows in confusion. Kai didn’t give him another chance to ask him anything, instead, he reaches his hand out to stop the tape from recording, finding it cute that Baekhyun was still using something as retro as a tape recorder when he can just use his phone. He stands up, helping Baekhyun up too before turning back to walk back on stage.

‘Right. I guess that’s enough for today’, the Chief Police finalise the briefing the moment Kai turns back on stage, LOEY looking at him up and down and sniggering. A loud wave of shouts protests the Chief Police’s statement, the other reporters still wanting more time with the two superheroes, ‘Alright everyone! You’ll have plenty more opportunities to interview them. Trust me’, he turns back to his men, gesturing them to usher the two heroes out of public view and back to the IHA Building where they can finally take of their masks.

 

* * *

 

 

‘And what are you doing here?’, Jihyun spots Baekhyun walking into her office, the computer scientist hearing the loud bang of her office doors signalling that her best friend had visited her.

‘I need your help’, Baekhyun asks without greeting her, placing the tape recorder on her desk, ‘I need you to run a voice recognition’, Jihyun stared down at the old device, raising an eyebrow at him.

‘You want me to get something out of that fossil of a device? Byun Baekhyun, do you ever wonder to maybe use your phone for once?’, Jihyun looked at the disgrace of a device, picking it up and feeling the heavy weight of it on her palm.

‘Jihyun, you know how I work. Just run it’, Baekhyun doesn’t have time to play games, his nose stuffed with a rolled tissue after he finally got the time to sort his nosebleed out. Jihyun, without Baekhyun’s permission, plays the tape first, hearing screams mixed with muffled signal noises, flinching at the high-pitched screeches before settling into a normal sound wave.

‘I’m dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it’s the honest ones you want to watch out for because you can never predict when they’re going to do something incredibly stupid’

The whisper was barely above audible and mixed with the sound waves which messed up the audio along with the screams, Jihyun barely heard what the voice was talking about.

‘What the hell do you want me to do with this?’, Jihyun complains, logging out of her workplace account, her computer still open yet she didn’t know where, to begin with, this audio.

‘Dishonest man…’, Baekhyun whispers, turning around, pacing back and forth his best friend’s office, ‘Why would he say something like that…’, he continues to talk to himself. Suddenly, the odd feeling of his touch made Baekhyun freeze for a moment, the sensational feeling sending waves of shock to him, but what was more surprising, was that he felt comfortable in Kai’s hold. More comfortable than he’d like to admit.

 

* * *

 

‘I told you he was onto you’, Chanyeol calls it, the both of them walking towards Chanyeol’s Ferrari, Jongin sporting an oversized hoodie along with a hat, covering his face as they walk out of their work building, Chanyeol sporting nothing less than his designer Louis Vuitton suit along with his Michael Kors shade, a cup of overpriced Starbuck coffee in his hands.

‘Piss off’, Jongin grimace, remembering Jongdae’s laugh the moment they pass him, the lightning boy mentioning the time where Baekhyun attempted to approach him with a Marc Jacobs endorsement for information about Kai. Jongin never felt more disappointed, trying to avoid everyone’s eyes as soon as he walked into the locker room, Jongdae already spreading it around like wildfire that Baekhyun was already onto Kai which means that Essence was desperate for his identity.

Chanyeol, no longer LOEY the humble superhero, but Park Chanyeol of the Parks Enterprise, a rich and spoilt third generation conglomerate who’s also been in the newspaper, but not in a dignified way as his alter ego has been. Mostly of him walking in and out of nightclubs, men and women draped all over him.

‘Just take me to the restaurant and don’t even mention his name’, Jongin threatens his partner, opening the passenger door of Chanyeol’s car, the tall giant still milking the situation, laughing every time Baekhyun’s name is mentioned.

‘What are you going to do once you get home? Looks like you’re not going to be treating Baekhyun sex any time soon’

‘Chanyeol, my sex life has nothing to do with you. Now can you please leave me alone?’

‘You’re using my Ferrari like a bus, the least I can do is relish in your new dilemma’, Chanyeol points out, taking a sip of his coffee whilst he starts the car, most of his bruises have disappeared which means he can go on holiday in Bora Bora without paparazzi noticing his scars.

 

* * *

 

Baekhyun is the first to arrive home, degraded and tired after Jihyun failed to match Kai’s sound waves to anyone else living in Seoul. He had concluded that Kai must live in another city, which means he’d need to ask the mayor of the neighbouring city for the files of every single one of their residence and their voices. Which in hindsight, was not possible.

Looking around to notice that his boyfriend was not at home, he made his way to start making dinner for the both of them, praying to god that there may be microwavable food he stashed away somewhere. He opens the fridge, being welcomed with a container of cooked food with a post-it note stuck by the front.

Coming home late. Don’t touch the kitchen stove and just eat this instead.

Baekhyun smiles, picking up the container to see Jongin’s amazing kimchi fried rice along with grilled beef inside. Thank god he has a cook as a boyfriend, now he never had to starve or live off instant noodles. With his mood lightening up, he makes his way to the drawers, getting out a pate so he can microwave the food, whistling a soft tune he heard playing on the radio.

Baekhyun wondered how busy Jongin could be that he’s working overtime, but he didn’t mind. He wasn’t worried and he trusted his boyfriend to come home to him, whether it was at 6 pm or midnight.

 

* * *

 

‘Dad, stop looking at me like that’, Jongin rolls his eyes, clearing the restaurant the minute the last customer of the night walks out, Jongin holding a broom and sweeping the floors, his dad eyeing him up and down, his laser eyes making Jongin feel uncomfortable.

Literally.

‘Dad! You’re burning my back’, Jongin exclaim once he feels the heat burning him, turning around and giving his father a warning look. His dad’s laser eyes stopped glaring at him, his red irises turning back to a normal dark brown.

‘So… That boyfriend of yours…’

Here we go again.

‘Dad, don’t worry about it’, Jongin reassures him, sweeping the corners of the restaurant, massaging his back since he did get hit by a van today. Even though his genetics was much stronger than normal humans, that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like a bitch.

‘Son, you said that to me the first time you mentioned him to me. Now, I’ve been lenient with him but this is getting out of control’

‘Nothing is getting out of control’

‘He works for Essence. Every superhero’s worst nightmare. My identity nearly got caught because of that darn magazine! Your mother would’ve left me!’

‘Well… You didn’t get caught, and nor will I’, Jongin walks over to the back of the restaurant after he finished clearing the tables, ‘Trust me’

‘I do trust you, Jongin’, his father’s stern expression softens once he faces his only son, ‘It’s your boyfriend I don’t trust’

‘Dad, you told me you liked him. You even made us casserole when we first moved into our apartment together’

‘That’s before he was hired by Essence. Why didn’t you persuade him not to take the job? There are other dignified companies to work for other than that trash’

‘Dad, I’m not going to tear his dreams for my benefit. He needed to be hired by a big company to be taken seriously. And even though Essence is a pile of shit, it’s still a big money-making tabloid’, Jongin grabs the towel which rested by his father’s shoulder, wiping the counter as he heads back to the kitchen.

The father and son pair continue to squabble with each other, Jongin arguing and defending his boyfriend whilst his dad, who was an ex-superhero from the 1960s piles him on another lecture of how important it is to keep their secret identity well… A secret. Jongin ignores his father’s words, washing the dishes and humming a song he heard in Chanyeol’s car.

Jongin teleports to the back alley, trash bags held by both his hands, throwing it next to the dumpsters by the end of the road before teleporting back inside the kitchen, his dad lasering the stains in the pots which refuses to disappear with just a soap and scrub.

‘Jongin? Baby?’, the both of them freeze mid-cleaning, Jongin’s dad dropping the pan in shock of the voice.

‘Um… Baekhyun?’, Jongin shouts, straightening his clothes and hiding his bandaged arm before walking out to the front entrance, his eyes falling on his boyfriend, wearing his hoodie whilst holding onto a plastic bag, ‘What are you doing here?’, he asks, making his way over to Baekhyun and giving him a small peck on the cheek.

‘For someone who works in a restaurant, I'm surprised you don’t eat that much’, Baekhyun whines, holding onto his wrist which had started to easily fit around his hands, lip lower lips pouting at the sight of his boyfriend not eating properly, ‘Since I can’t cook like you, I opted for just takeaway’, Baekhyun smiles, holding up the small plastic bag with Chinese character along with a dragon pasted on it.

Jongin was supposed to get mad at Baekhyun. He and Chanyeol devised a plan where Jongin can slowly approach Baekhyun about what happened earlier that day. He even wrote a script of all the things he was going to tell his boyfriend, a whole list of things to tell him off.

Which is why he wanted to kill himself for wrapping his arms around Baekhyun’s waist instead, drawing the boy nearer to him, his lips automatically placing itself on Baekhyun’s, hugging the shorter boy.

‘Thanks babe’, Jongin whispers. Maybe he can tell him off tomorrow morning. He off called and it was Jongdae’s turn to call duty for the next two weeks, so Jongin had plenty of time to approach Baekhyun about his new assignment. But for now, he relishes at the moment where he can just be with his boyfriend, without any worries and without Baekhyun trying to take a photo of him.

‘Byun Baekhyun’, his father’s stern voice echoes through the empty restaurant, his arms folded and eyes glaring at the pair. Jongin prays that he keeps his lasers to himself as soon as he lets go of Baekhyun.

‘Hello Mr Kim!’, Baekhyun chirped at the sight of the grumpy old man, being the only person who enjoyed being in the presence of Jongin’s grumpy old father.

‘Look dad. Baekhyun bought us takeaway’, Jongin raises his hand, showing his dad the plastic bag, he’s now holding, giving him a look whilst Baekhyun walks towards the kitchen.

Be nice, he mimes as soon as Baekhyun reaches him, giving the old man a quick hug despite Mr Kim’s squirm over physical contact. Jongin sometimes wondered how his mum ever fell in love with his dad.

‘How’s the restaurant going?’, Baekhyun asks, sitting on one of the chairs near the kitchen, waiting for the two Kims to join him and eat their dinner.

‘You know how it is. My dad makes the best recipes so we’re never truly out of customers’, Jongin informs his boyfriend, ditching his cleaning whilst he sits next to him, resting his chin on Baekhyun’s shoulder, nodding for his dad to join them, gaining a huff, but his dad gives in at the end. He always does.

‘Ever since the terror attack last week, no one dares to go to the main city any more… So that’s a bit of a problem’, his dad groans, earning a warning look from Jongin as he sees Baekhyun’s ears perk up at the sudden mention of the terror attack.

‘Yes, I know. That was terrible. But I’m glad that Kai managed to handle the situation’

‘Kai and LOEY’, Jongin added, nervously tapping his feet, his dad finally understanding his mistake and joining Jongin’s attempt to stir the conversation away. But they both know Baekhyun well enough to know that once they’ve triggered him, he’s not going to stop.

‘Kai just… Something about him… It feels weird’

‘How so?’, the pair simultaneously ask, their eyes shaking, Jongin coughing awkwardly, giving his dad a glare.

‘Well… My boss assigned me to find out about his real identity’

‘Oh, did they now… And… Have you started?’, Jongin’s dad gives in, asking the curious question which had been floating in everyone’s minds, including Jongin.

‘Well, I’ve tried asking around in the IHA Building, but no one was willing to help me…’, Baekhyun sighs, scratching the back of his head, ruffling it in frustration, ‘And Jihyun is being such a bitch’

‘Jihyun? You mean…’

‘My friend who does computer science. I asked her to do a voice recognition test’

Jongin and his dad tenses.

‘But she says she got nothing…’

They both breathe a sigh of relief.

‘It must mean he lives outside the city… Maybe out of the country for all I know. He’s a teleporter so he could zap straight into the fight, which means his house could be thousands of miles away from Seoul’, Jongin felt sorry for Baekhyun for a moment, he couldn’t even fathom how the boy was going to start looking for someone who was right next to him.

‘Well, it looks like your spread on Kai isn’t going to happen any time soon’

‘But that’s the thing, dad, my boss told me I need to find out about his identity by the end of the month’

‘Did you just call me dad?’, Jongin’s dad’s eyes widen at the way Baekhyun nonchalantly addressed him as ‘dad’ out of all things, ‘Baekhyun, I-’

‘And another thing… He told me something really weird during the interview’, Baekhyun ignores Jongin’s dad’s dilemma, the old grumpy man being left flustered and red-cheeked, Jongin stifling a laugh since Baekhyun was the only person who can make his dad feel flustered.

‘What did he say to you?’, Jongin asks, obviously as an act since he knew exactly what he said.

‘He said: I’m dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it’s the honest ones you want to watch out for because you can never predict when they’re going to do something incredibly stupid. What does that even mean?’

‘Well, what did you ask him?’

‘What his favourite movie was’

‘Then he must’ve told you his favourite quote from his movie’, Jongin suggests, Baekhyun’s eyes flashing in realisation, followed by a trail of laughter which only grows deeper.

‘What’s so funny?’, his dad says, munching on some sweet and sour pork as he delves into the takeaway, despite being against it at first.

‘Shit…’, Baekhyun continues to laugh at himself, ‘And here I thought he was admitting to me that he was a secret villain or something along those lines…’

‘You thought… He was going to randomly confess to a journalist that he’s… A supervillain?’, Jongin asks, not really wanting to look at his father because he knows he’s going to have the same judgemental expression whenever Baekhyun says or does something stupid, which, even though Jongin didn’t want to admit it, is more often than Baekhyun would want to know.

How have you not broken up with him? his father mines at him, forcing Jongin to take out a chopstick to throw at his dad.

Shut up.

 

* * *

 

‘It’s plain rude of you to be tapping someone’s phone… And illegal and a breach of their privacy’, Jihyun states the moment he finds Baekhyun raiding her computer, typing in some codes before seeing lists on numbers which may be connected with Kai after he researched in an interview that Kai went to a local kindergarten a few blocks away from Essence headquarters.

‘Public of interest’, Baekhyun points out, tapping away so he can narrow the number of phone numbers listed on the screen in front of him, ‘I have the public’s interest to defend my actions’

‘Why am I still friends with you’, Jihyun sighs, shaking her head in disappointment as she witnesses her friend doing something trashy as stealing someone’s phone number.

‘Is that… Is that Kim Jongin?!’, Baekhyun stops typing, scrolling back up to see an old school photo of his boyfriend when he was five, smiling along with his contact information and details, the number he has memorised and saved in his phone blinking right in front of him, ‘Jongin might’ve gone to school with Kai?!’, Baekhyun turns around to stare at his Jihyun, the revelation shocking him.

‘Where did you even get the information that Kai went to school in Korea? For all we know, he could’ve lived in the Himalayas’, Jihyun points out, not trusting any of the information Baekhyun was getting from gossip websites and interviews from random people.

‘I had a psychiatrist to analyse dozens of Kai interviews’, Baekhyun points out, ‘I promise you that this is not from a shit unreliable place’

‘And what has a psychiatrist got anything to do with Kai’s back history?’

‘No one can truly hide who there are. If you’re trained, you can pick up actions and subtle meaning in their words’, Baekhyun points out, writing down the list of people who used to attend the kindergarten around the same time as Kai did.

‘Enlighten me. How does one movement show someone’s true identity?’, Jihyun points out, her long locks flowing behind her as she pushes it aside, opening her yoghurt and watching Baekhyun scrambling around.

‘We can start by his lexis’, Baekhyun points out, ‘It’s mostly mid register but would reach high register once in a while, but you can tell he never speaks like that on a usual basis’, Baekhyun reaches out to snatch a post it note from Jihyun’s desk, ‘Which means he’s from a fairly humble working-class family with an ordinary education, that cuts away half the demographic anyway’, Jihyun raises her brows, observing the way Baekhyun swifts in action, writing from one note to the other, double checking on his phone, texting the people he had managed to get connected with in the short span that he’d been given this assignment.

‘You have so much potential’, Jihyun sighs, eating her yoghurt and looking at her best friend, ‘You could be exposing corrupt politicians and companies… But what are you doing now? Being a dick and ripping off heroes’ masks’, Baekhyun stops what he’s doing for a moment, giving her a warning look to stop judging him.

‘I need to earn a living. I can’t have Jongin paying for everything. We share an apartment and he’s only a cook in his father’s restaurant. Essence wasn’t my first choice either…’, Baekhyun points out, explaining his situation but it didn’t stop him from feeling an adrenaline rush, an excitement as he feels himself being one step closer to finding out Kai’s identity.

‘Quick question though…’, Jihyun points out right before Baekhyun can finish up and start making calls, ‘How did you know about the kindergarten thing? How did the psychologist find out where he went to school from his interviews?’, surely no psychologist can be that good to read someone’s mind word for word. They’d be as intelligent as Sherlock for that to happen.

‘He mentioned about being strong like a lion but fierce like a hornet in one of his lectures in a high school he did a year and a half again’, Baekhyun points out, throwing the pen back to Jihyun, the girl barely catching it, dropping her spoon on her desk.

‘What has that got to do with anything?’

 _‘Strength in the lion but with a hornet’s fury’_ , Baekhyun speaks out, pointing back to the screen which Jihyun slides over which her computer chair, scanning to find that Baekhyun had opened that kindergarten’s official website, her eyes resting on the small logo of a lion with a hornet, the slogan is written in cursive right under it.

‘Shit…’, Jihyun looks back up at Baekhyun, seeing her best friend put on his jacket, ‘You’re good…’

‘Thanks’

 

* * *

 

‘Chanyeol, move’, Jongin pushes Chanyeol’s long legs from the coffee table, moving past him as he sits down on the tall giant’s leather sofa, his penthouse overlooking the city skyline, his built-in TV being voice controlled so Chanyeol has the control of the channels, Jongin being forced to watch an episode of Bachelor much to his dismay.

Jongin had often crashed in Chanyeol’s penthouse, it wasn’t like Chanyeol had genuine friends who hangs out with him during the day, so his partner was willing to give Jongin some time to chill at his place since his dad urges him to take a break for his wounds to heal after one of his stitches accidentally opened when he tried reaching out for the knife in the kitchen. Chanyeol’s apartment is what you can imagine from a spoilt third generation conglomerate; impeccable interior design, beautiful antiques and paintings, silky smooth sheets and a lot of toys on display and hanging around the apartment, Jongin having tripped over three remote controlled cars on his way to the sofa.

‘Thank god for the two weeks off’, Chanyeol mutters, reaching out to steal some popcorn Jongin had made, munching along as he watches another episode of trashy TV.

‘I know right. I feel like I might faint if we were on call again’, Jongin replies, giving in and immersing himself with the people in the show, making snide comments about their outfits and stingy personalities. Chanyeol hadn’t mentioned Baekhyun in a long while, and Jongin blames himself for being off guard for a moment just because they have the day off.

‘I saw your cute boyfriend roaming around by the IHA Building again’, Chanyeol points out, taking a sip of his beer, eyeing Jongin to see his reaction, ‘You haven’t done anything to try and stop him, have you?’

‘Yes, I have’

‘No, you haven’t’

‘Chanyeol, what exactly do you want me to do? Tell Baekhyun to stop his investigation because he might be getting warmer in finding out Kai’s identity and I don’t want that to happen because Kai is obviously me?’, Jongin finally snaps, glaring at his partner as he stuffs a handful of popcorn in his mouth in utter frustration.

‘You can at least hold him off. Send him to the wrong trail. Anything’

‘Why are you so worried? Gosh, at least he’s not looking for you’

‘I hate to break it to you… And I’m saying this with bitterness but… Your boyfriend is actually good at his job’, Chanyeol warns Jongin, ‘If he even finds out one small clue that may lead to you, then your dead meat’, this, in turn, stiffens Jongin. Of course, he was nervous, especially since he knows how passionate Baekhyun gets. Which is why, the moment Chanyeol verbalised Jongin’s thoughts, he knew he was fucked.

‘Ergh. Why do you always ruin the fun’, Jongin whines, putting the bowl of popcorn down as he grabs his jacket, slapping Chanyeol’s back before zapping out of his apartment and in the streets of Seoul, walking towards a tall building, the word Essence stood tall and gleam right on top of it. Jongin had only ever visited Baekhyun at work three times, one to pick him up after the trains got cancelled due to a fight between Chen and a villain in the subway, another when he dropped off Baekhyun’s lunch since he forgot it by the kitchen counter, and the last one being a few weeks ago. He needed an excuse to approach Baekhyun about his debacle, so he pretends to ask one of his colleagues where Baekhyun was, in which they told him that he was printing the photos he took of Kai during a fight.

Looks like he’ll be needing to find another excuse to approach Baekhyun. He walks into the main reception, waving at the receptionist who somewhat recognises him, waving back at him.

‘And what does Baekhyun need today?’, she jokes, looking Jongin up and down, checking him out which Jongin never fails to notice, but he just smiles along.

‘Yeah, I actually need him for something. Do you mind checking if he’s in?’, he asks, leaning his arm on the reception desk, giving her his usual smile that she falls for.

‘Why don’t you go and check for yourself. I’ll take you to his floor’, Jongin smiles at her, reaching for her hand and kissing it softly, ‘You’re a lifesaver’, he gleams, seeing how she gushes in front of her. Baekhyun was going to kill him if he finds out he’s flirting with the receptionist, but whatever gets him through the doors, he’ll gladly do it.

Following the lady, he looks around, staring at the different tacky covers displayed on the walls of the building, celebrating the amount of hot spread they’ve been selling, photos of his fellow superhero caught without their masks. He stares at the recent one of Jongdae walking out of the mechanic shop with his scars from the previous fight showing, revealing that he was, in fact, Chen, the hero who saved a kid from a burning building.

‘I need a photo of LOEY and Suho together. Now!’

‘But, they haven’t been seen to interact since the Heroic Actions end of year party last year’

‘I don’t care. I need something. The rumours of their relationship are buzzing everywhere and we need to get on the bandwagon’

Jongin hears the conversations the workers had the moment they step into the eight floor, everyone buzzing around, printing sheets of columns, pictures pinned on boards, mountains of paper piled onto each other as they evaluate which stories get published and which are scrapped.

Since when did the rumours of LOEY and Suho dating surface? Chanyeol and Junmyeon can’t stand each other…

It never fails to amaze Jongin at how absurd and off some of their stories are, stifling a laugh once he hears another person mention LOEY’s feelings for Suho when it’s actually the other way around. Chanyeol couldn’t stand the water bending superhero who came to the company a little over a year ago. Like fire and water, they could not stand each other.

‘Jongin?!’, he hears the shouts of his boyfriend from far ahead, Baekhyun standing up from his desk with a huge grin on his face, racing over to Jongin, ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Well, my dad gave me a break, so I thought I should visit…’

‘You’re just in time! My lunch break is in five minutes’

‘Baekhyun, it’s 3 o’clock in the afternoon…’

‘Well, I’ve been working overtime’, Baekhyun shrugs it off, but Jongin was slightly worried. Baekhyun had been sitting on his desk since morning without eating a proper meal. This was not going to do. He was going to rush him over to his dad’s restaurant and force him to feed Baekhyun a 12-course meal, ‘C’mon, why don’t we make a run for it now before my boss sees me’, Baekhyun smiles, intertwining his hands with Jongin, making everyone feel jealous as Baekhyun sticks his tongue out to his other colleagues, lifting their hands to show off his good looking boyfriend to everyone.

‘You need to stop doing that’, Jongin whispers when he spots Baekhyun over exaggerating his actions, holding onto him like a sloth, ‘Your co-workers must really hate you’

 

* * *

 

They sit inside the local café, Jongin drinking his hot chocolate whilst Baekhyun stuff himself with pastries, crumbs decorating the side of his lips. It never failed to amuse Jongin how messy Baekhyun is when he eats, remembering their first date at a restaurant where he got stains all over his and Jongin’s shirt from talking with his mouth full.

‘So, how’s your spread on Kai?’, Jongin approached the question first, trying to sound nonchalant and not so desperate, Baekhyun sighing in defeat, which shouldn’t make Jongin feel happy, but he did try to suppress a sigh of relief.

‘I think I have a feeling which kindergarten he went but… I checked all of the students of ’99, but all of them don’t really scream superhero vibes to me’, Baekhyun informs, opening his phone to show Jongin of the student files he had managed to get from the school files upon request, the Principle being more than happy to comply with the base that a superhero had attended their school, which meant a lot of press attention.

Jongin freezes the moment his eyes laid on his old kindergarten school, the logo which he had drawn as a child and his mother once hanged on the fridge of their old house. He stiffens, trying to put on a comforting smile at Baekhyun, relaxing his mind from overreacting.

‘Oh… What a shame… I-’

‘Wait!’, Baekhyun calls out the moment he is reminded of something, ‘You used to go to this kindergarten too!’, Baekhyun points out, grabbing the student files and lord behold, Jongin’s childhood photo with his long hair and button nose is printed in black and white, ‘Do you think you might remember anyone who… I don’t know… Showed signs of having powers?’, Baekhyun asks, the hope in his eyes returning as he grabs hold of Jongin’s hands, eyes pleading.

He wishes he could help. He really did. But then again, he’d rather not have the paparazzi tailing his backside on his days off.

‘I think I know one guy…’, Jongin points out, Baekhyun’s eyes gleaming, ‘I haven’t spoken to him since middle school but…’, if Jongin can divert Baekhyun’s trail for the next month or so, Baekhyun and Essence, in general, would probably give up searching for his identity, probably moving back to search for LOEY’s. But before Jongin can even start giving Baekhyun the wrong information, he hears a crash, followed by a burning van which had landed right on the street, bystanders screaming once they see a 20 feet long machine clawing its way into the inner city.

Goddammit.

‘Shit. It’s an attack, c’mon, let’s go’, Jongin grabs hold of Baekhyun, rushing out of the backdoors of the café along with the rest of the staff and costumes, Baekhyun’s eyes never leaving the machine which had started spitting out dry ice, hitting buildings and cars, crushing the roads.

‘What the fuck is that?’, Baekhyun yells after what the machine is capable of, running with Jongin to safety.

‘Probably one of Dr Xiumin’s inventions’, Jongin shouts back, looking around to see a mosh pit of people running in the same direction, clawing at each other, a stampede of desperate people trying to find safety. This won’t do. Jongin and Baekhyun would be crushed if they start joining everyone, so instead, Jongin forces Baekhyun to follow him to the other side of the road where the wreckage is, trails of ice which had started melting, leaving behind a residue which started to melt the cement.

‘What in god’s name…’, Baekhyun gasps in fear and awe, seeing that the machine had started to dismember the city after being launched for no more than five minutes.

I’m going to kill Dr Xiumin, Jongin thought as he looks at the sight of the outer city, muttering curses as they try to walk over the damages, slightly agitated that he can’t use his powers to zap him and Baekhyun to Chanyeol’s safe place in the borders of the city, ‘Come here babe’, Jongin whispers, bending down to lift Baekhyun off his feet once he feels the latter slowing down, looking down to see that his shoes had touched the melted residue, melting away and exposing Baekhyun’s skin. He was not going to let Baekhyun touch whatever Xiumin put inside the dry ice.

‘Jongin!’, Baekhyun breathes out, feeling his boyfriend’s hold around him, running with as much power as if he wasn’t carrying a human being with him, racing his way over to one of the alleyways.

‘Are you okay, babe?’, Jongin asks, putting Baekhyun down and looking around to see if he’s had any injuries, stroking his hair back and checking his face.

‘I’m fine don’t worry…’, Baekhyun sighs, hugging Jongin back once the latter sighs in relief, looking back to see if anyone had made the smart move to run the other way from the machine, but it seems like it was just the two of them.

‘I… What…’, Baekhyun was in panic mode, seeing the some of the dry ice grow larger instead of melting like the others, engulfing around the building instead, eating it all up and covering it in poisonous ice – which Baekhyun had never seen before, ‘Dr Xiumin still does this? I thought he quit being a villain’

Jongin runs over to the other side of the alleyway, checking to see the ice to confirm his allegations, seeing the iridescent yellow which shined inside the ice, the trademark symbol that this is one of Dr Xiumin’s inventions.

‘Yeah… It’s definitely Xiumin’, Jongin growls, already feeling the vibration of his phone in his back pocket. Looking back, he sees his boyfriend too busy typing on his phone, probably too busy calling his workplace to notice Jongin disappearing in the corner and picking up the call.

‘Hey! Jongin… Little help!’, he can hear Chen’s voice screaming on the other side of the phone, mixed with other screams and loud explosions, ‘Me and Suho are caught up’

‘I can fucking tell!’, Jongin shouts back, ‘I nearly died because of that thing’

‘Well, that thing has good electric conductors and I can’t pierce through it!’, Chen shouts back, ‘Give me Chanyeol, we need to melt the ice’

‘Oh, you do not want that’, Jongin informs the heroes on call, looking around and informing Chen of the consequences of the melting ice, the lightning hero muttering curse words.

‘Well, we need you then’, Chen shouts back, another explosion being heard in the background, sirens muffling Chen’s voice for a moment, ‘We need to dump this machine elsewhere’

‘Have you seen the size of that thing? I can’t teleport it!’

‘You only need to teleport a part of it!’, Chen shouts back his plan, climbing on top of a rooftop, overlooking the melting city from bird’s eye view, checking the landscape before devising a plan with his partner, ‘We’re going to dismember the machine and I need you to take the main transmitter and converter implanted inside. Take Chanyeol with you to burn that thing!’

‘Wait! But I’m with Baekhyun right now!’

‘That doesn’t matter!’

‘Yes, it fucking does!’

‘Just fucking do as I say. Suho has just called in LOEY, he’ll be here any minute’ before Jongin can argue anymore, Chen hangs up on him, leaving him in a frustrating situation where he turns back and sees Baekhyun also on the phone, in a secluded area of a burned and damaged city.

Jongin was going to regret this. He picks up a piece of broken wood from the rubble, making sure there were no sharp edges before creeping up behind Baekhyun, closing his eyes and praying for forgiveness before swinging it, Baekhyun falling into his arms, his phone landing on the phone and cracking, the conversation with his boss being cut short.

‘I’m so sorry babe’, Jongin whispers, kissing Baekhyun’s cheeks and wiping his head, checking his head just in case he hit too hard. He teleports straight out of the alleyway and inside his dad’s kitchen.

 

* * *

 

‘Where have you been?’, Suho and LOEY scream the moment Kai turns up, seeing the other three heroes trying to suppress the machine which had already made its way to Namsan Tower, tearing the sky bus and melting the trees and wildlife.

‘Trying to keep out identities hidden!’, Kai shouts back, his mask hiding his pissed expression as he teleports to where Chen is, on top of another rooftop, his bow and arrow by his side, ‘What have you got?’

‘I figured out where the heart is’, Chen informs, pointing at the top of the machine where a glimmering silver patch glimmered, ‘The transmitters are at the top. If I get the shot to hit through it, it’ll give Suho and LOEY to dismember the bastard’, Chen explains, reaching behind from his behind where a bunch of electric arrows laid in a sack, different setting from low range to fury. One hit and a whole factory can burn with Chen’s electric inventions.

‘Well, better get on with it’, Kai stand back, putting in the earpiece and signing to Suho and LOEY to prepare themselves.

‘God, Chen please talk to your boyfriend!’, LOEY shouts into the earpiece, stretching his arms as he rolls his eyes whilst preparing for the attack, fisting his knuckles and emitting as much fire as he can muster, ‘He’s causing havoc again!’

‘He’s not my boyfriend!’, Chen shouts at them, getting distracted at Chanyeol’s sudden statement, bringing his arrow down for a moment, ‘You forced me to talk to him for a peace treaty!’

‘That’s because he’s fucking obsessed with you! Otherwise, I would’ve just done it myself!’, Suho shouts back.

‘Guys! Not the fucking point! Chen, just shoot the goddamn thing!’, Kai stops the other three heroes from starting a civil war between them, Kai urging Chen to aim already, teleporting back down to where LOEY is, preparing for the both of them to teleport the machine out of the city.

‘Guys, focus!’, Kai shouts to all of them, Chen standing still, his posture stiff, his left eye closing as he tries to aim for the machine, his electric arrow charging to fury level, waiting to be released.

‘C’mon, Chen…’, Kai whispers, anticipating the key point of their plan which needs to work otherwise they’ll have to change their plan – which will be a bitch – since they don’t have a plan B. As they watch the machine stomp nearer to the tower, closer to where Chen is, the claws reach out, aiming at the building where Chen is standing, recharging for another attack.

‘Chen, what are you doing?! Go and hit it!’, Suho shouts at his partner, the other pair of heroes shaking as they see that Chen is not moving, ‘Chen!’

Just before the machine can attack him, Chen releases his arrow, the sleek metal electric rod races its way to hit the silver patch of the machine, hitting its vulnerable spot, freezing the machine to a stop, twitching to a stop when the transmitter explodes right inside of the machine.

‘Suho, go!’, Chen shouts, a cheer in his tone as he hits the machine in one go, the two element manipulators racing their way to the front line, Chanyeol emitting a fury of blue flames,  dismembering the machine’s legs, stopping it from moving whilst Suho destroys the machine’s anatomy by controlling its liquids, forcing the diesel inside to explode at his command, the outer layer of metal and special uranium.

‘Kai, it’s radioactive, so be careful’, Suho warns the teleporter, rushing to the other side and fixing Chanyeol’s damages, suppressing the fire which had started to swallow the remaining rubbles of the city.

‘Really Chanyeol? Can you please not aim so recklessly?’, Suho whines, trying to clear up their surroundings, seeing the ashes of Chanyeol’s fires.

‘It’s fire Suho, have some common sense that it’ll catch on something else’, Chanyeol argues back, melting away the shield which protects the main converter.

‘Can the both of you shut up?!’, Kai yells at the both of them, ‘And to think people actually believe the two of you are dating…’

‘Are you serious?’, Chen laughs in their earpiece, clapping his hands as he sits down on the rooftop, his breathing heavy after running around, his feet dangling around on the edge.

‘Yeah, your ship name is Loho’, Kai points out, chucking when Suho gave him a look of disgust, ‘Don’t look at me like that. Blame Essence for making up the name’

‘Essence… Of course’, Chanyeol whines, finishing off the rest before the protector is fully destroyed, Kai finally doing his part and teleporting to the machine and picking up the device, its complicated beauty still shocking Kai till this day. Dr Xiumin is such a smart human being, it’s a waste that he’s a supervillain.

‘Chen, do you mind meeting up with Xiumin again. If we can recruit him to our side, it’ll make life easier for us’, Kai voices out, laughing once Chen curses at him, his high-pitched whine almost breaking the earpiece, Kai teleporting back to Chanyeol before the pair of them transports in the middle of a desert in New Mexico.

 

* * *

 

‘New Mexico? Again?’

‘We’re in the middle of the desert’, Kai defends his choice, ‘C’mon, it’ll be quick and easy here’, Kai points out, throwing the device up in the air and catching it with one hand.

‘Stop showing off’, Chanyeol rolls his eyes, taking off his mask since his face was getting stuffy, ‘Let’s get this over and done with’

‘Alright’, Kai walks ten feet away from Chanyeol, ‘In the count of three’, he calls out, Chanyeol preparing his flames, Kai preparing to throw the device up in the air.

‘Where’s Baekhyun. I heard he was with you’

‘I hit him in the head with a stick’

‘That’s rock and roll man’, Chanyeol laughs, making Kai glare at him, Kai taking off his mask and focusing on the device and task at hand.

‘Just fucking focus’, Kai growls, ‘One!’, the signals for Chanyeol to prepare himself, ‘Two… Three!’

And with that, a family caravan driving through the desert roads looks out of their window to see a fire explosion far into the distance, the orange flames were seen by a little kid who’s mouth hangs down.

 

* * *

 

Baekhyun stirs awake, fluttering his eyes and feeling a sharp pain on the back of his head, forcing him to wince, attracting Mr Kim’s attention who walks up to him, sleeping on the spare bed in his apartment above the restaurant.

‘You okay?’, he asks, picking up the damp towel, dipping it again in cold water and placing it back on Baekhyun’s head.

‘What happened?’, Baekhyun asks, whining as he tries to get up but failing.

‘A piece of rubble fell on your head when you and Jongin tried to escape’, Mr Kim explains, sitting down beside the pained boy. Baekhyun suddenly remembered the chain of events which led him and Jongin in a secluded alleyway.

‘Jongin! Where is he?!’, Baekhyun yells the moment he realises that Jongin is not here with him, ‘Where is he?’

‘Don’t worry. He’d volunteered with a few others to help clear up the mess in the city after dropping you off here’, Mr Kim comforts the boy, feeling slightly worried at the way Baekhyun looks around, his eyes tearing up at the thought of Jongin being injured.

‘Are you sure?’, Baekhyun whines, his back also hurting, trying to sit up with the help of Jongin’s dad, holding onto him as he tries to move.

‘Yeah. He’s fine and you’re also going to be fine’, Jongin’s dad looks down on the boy who relaxes at his hold, closing his eyes and leaning down on his shoulder once he’s been told that his boyfriend is fine, going back to sleep when he feels himself slowly falling back into unconscious.

‘Thanks dad’

 

* * *

 

The four superheroes sat in a press conference, all of them wearing their suit and mask apart from Chen who didn’t feel the need to embarrass himself wearing his yellow latex bodysuit, sporting a suit and tie instead, his face exposed for everyone to take photos of.

‘I look like an idiot sitting next to Chen’, Suho whispers, looking down at his sequence blue jumpsuit to which Chanyeol tried to suppress his laughter, the pictures making it worse as the light reflects the sequence, making Suho shine more compared to the rest of them, ‘Don’t think you can chat, you lowlife orange disco ball’, Suho hisses under his breath the moment he hears Chanyeol wheezing, trying hard to look serious but feeling himself let go the moment he turns to the side and see Suho sitting next to an elegant looking Chen.

‘My suit is salamander and fucking awesome’, he whispers before the conference starts, each of them gaining a mic, Kai nervously looking around to see if Essence has sent another journalist in Baekhyun’s place.

‘Hello’, says the Chief Police, ‘We will now be taking questions’, and before he can retreat from the setting, reporters are shouting from left right and centre, their mics and cameras being thrown at the group of superheroes, the usual questions being asked.

_Who do you think would do such a thing?_

_How did you defeat the machine?_

_Kai and LOEY, why did you decide to join the fight when you’re not on call?_

_Where is the main converter? Has it been destroyed?_

_Who will take responsibility for the loss?_

_Are you going to be visiting the victims in the hospital?_

Kai was the most silent compared to the rest of them, Chanyeol answering most of the questions, looking around the mass number of reporters and paparazzi, Chen’s voice drowning them out when he explains his plan which the rest of the heroes’ nod along. Kai couldn’t pay attention, not when he’s thinking about Baekhyun unconscious, laying on the restaurant’s sofa.

_Kai, how do you feel about LOEY?_

The sudden targeted question forces him back to reality, coughing as he rings the mic nearer to him.

‘Uh, he’s my partner… I feel honoured to be working with him…’, he answered, not really sure what they were going to achieve with that question.

Where did you and LOEY go straight after the fight?

‘Uh…’

Is it true that LOEY has a safe place where the both of you go?

‘Uh… I mean… We have places where we confine in and I guess…’

So, is it true that the both of you have started to see each other in a different light?

Chanyeol, picking up the reporter’s main aim, quickly grabs the mic from Kai.

‘Um, no. Unfortunately, the rumours around us are not true and we are clearly just professional partners’, LOEY answers, taking control of the question, giving Kai a warning look to keep himself together, the other pair of heroes stifling a laugh, Chen smirking when he sees the small Essence logo which was plastered on the reporter’s cameras.

Suho, what do you feel about the rumours about LOEY and Kai?

Essence is such a slimy piece of-

‘I see no interest in the news. Next question’, Suho ends that set of useless question, picking a trustworthy news outlet for the next set of questions which hopefully will ask important questions about the event.

 

* * *

 

‘LOEY and Kai sitting on a tree. K, I, S, S, I, N, G’, Jongdae laughs, swinging his arm over his partner’s shoulder as they way on the side by side, his hood up so he doesn’t get recognised, everyone else finally in their normal attire.

‘I can’t believe you’re at your fourth dating rumour’, Junmyeon points out, chuckling at Chanyeol who sips his Iced Americano, wearing his Ralph Lauren polo and Ray-Bans shades which hides his other famous face.

‘Remember Joy from the third division three years ago?’, Jongdae points out, laughing his ass off when Chanyeol finally hits him in the chest.

‘That’s not funny. They were actually dating’, Jongin points out, remembering when the photos of LOEY taking care of Joy’s injuries after a fight surfaces, causing a mayhem of scandals which forced the two to break up due to the immense pressure of the press.

‘I’m just saying’, Jongdae points out, ‘Who exactly exposed your partner’s secret relationship?’, Jongdae raises his eyebrow, Jongin staying silent since he didn’t have the rights to say anything, knowing that it was Essence’s doing.

‘Don’t worry about it. It was just a fling anyway’, Chanyeol pats Jongin in the back, comforting the man as they turn a corner to Jongin’s dad’s restaurant, every superhero’s safe haven.

‘Does your dad still make Kimchi Jjigae?’, Jongdae asks, not having the time to visit the restaurant since his identity had been caught, but since today has been a massive victory, Jongdae deserves to treat himself.

‘Yeah, of course’, Jongin pushes the door open, leading his group of friends inside the restaurant, all four of them freezing on the spot the moment they see an awkward boy with an apron and a mop clearing the floors of the restaurant, his smile widening when he sees Jongin walking in.

Jongdae pulls his hoodie further down, grabbing his mask inside his back pocket, hiding behind Chanyeol, whilst the spoilt conglomerate also pulls his mask from Levi’s jeans.

‘Jongin! You’re back!’, Baekhyun shouts, Jongin’s dad giving him a guilty expression when he spots the four heroes trying to hide their faces as soon as Baekhyun runs towards the tanned skin boy, jumping up at him and wrapping his legs around his waist, ‘I was worried sick about you!’, he whines, nuzzling his face on Jongin’s neck, ‘You should’ve stayed with me’

The other three besides him takes a step back, all of them looking up at Jongin’s dad who holds up a board with his messy handwriting on it.

He begged to stay here and wait for you.

Jongin sighs in defeat, wrapping his arms around Baekhyun, holding onto him and keeping him around his waist.

‘You should’ve gone to the hospital when you woke up’, Jongin mutters, but his complaints get buried between Baekhyun’s kisses, holding him still, his hands on his cheeks.

‘You should’ve stayed with me…’

‘Right’, Junmyeon, being the only one who didn’t have to worry about their identity, interrupts the love dove couple, stepping forward, ‘I’m starving and I would like Mr Kim’s special Kimchi fried rice and Yukgaejang’, Junmyeon asserts himself, reaching his hand out and gaining Mr Kim’s attention, Jongdae rushing right behind him, hoping not to be seen by the Essence journalist.

They should be lucky that the observant journalist was too busy to notice the third-generation conglomerate sporting the same scar which was televised on TV as LOEY along with Jongdae’s trademark cat-like eyes which had been gaining fashion magazine’s attention, gaining offers left right and centre.

 

* * *

 

‘We could’ve just eaten at the restaurant’, Baekhyun points out, the pair of them in their apartment, Jongin cutting up the vegetables as he prepares Baekhyun’s favourite meal, diligently cooking as Baekhyun waits for him patiently, cutting the potatoes and quickly adding it to the gamjatang stew.

‘Don’t worry about it. I know you love my version more’, Jongin smiles at him, treating Baekhyun like a princess after literally hitting him in the head – and also because he needed to get Baekhyun out of the restaurant, ‘Are you sure you’re okay babe?’, he asks Baekhyun one more time, staring at him with a worried expression since the boy refused to go to the hospital to get his head checked up.

‘I said I’m fine’, Baekhyun chuckles, reaching his hand out and stroking Jongin’s cheeks, enforcing his worried boyfriend that he was, in fact, fine, ‘I was watching the news and waiting for you’

‘Oh, were you?’, Jongin stirs the pot, waiting for the pork to soften.

‘Kai looked phased at the press conference’, Baekhyun comments, looking worriedly at Jongin’s phone since his one is broken and somewhere in the middle of an alley, looking at the different articles written, slightly upset that he didn’t get the chance to be at the conference. Jongin, noticing his boyfriend’s disappointed look, stopped stirring and turned off the stove.

‘If you were in the conference, what would you have asked them?’, Jongin questions, seeing the sparkle light up in Baekhyun’s eyes. The same eyes he fell in love with whenever he spoke about anything he was passionate about.

‘Nothing that’s not different from the other reporters…’, Baekhyun coughs out, shaking his head and trying to finish the subject, but this only catches Jongin’s attention since Baekhyun would hours talking about it.

‘Now, that’s not true… C’mon, what would be your question?’, Jongin urges on, ‘Who knows, one of them might answer it’

‘Well… I’ve just… I’ve always wanted to ask Kai one question but never got the chance since my company always gives me their pre-planned stupid questions’

‘Oh? Kai? Again?’, Jongin sighs, making Baekhyun laugh, misunderstanding the question.

‘Don’t worry. I don’t like him like that’, Baekhyun reaches his hand out over the kitchen island, ruffling his boyfriend’s hair, ‘I just wanted to know if he remembered his first task as a superhero’

‘Of course, he does’, Jongin comments, coughing as he tries to cover up his over-enthusiasm, ‘What superhero wouldn’t?’

‘That’s true… I don’t know, but I didn’t think he’ll remember it since it was a long time ago’, Baekhyun mutter, ‘But… I don’t know why but today just reminded me of it’

‘How comes?’

‘Well, I was one of the people in the bus he stopped from driving over the bridge’, Baekhyun mentions, something that he had never mentioned to Jongin, his boyfriend freezing on the spot at the new information.

‘You… You were inside?’

‘Yeah… I just graduated high school and I was going home from my summer job just before college started when the breaks of the bus stopped working’, Baekhyun explains the story just in case Jongin forgot the events from a few years ago, but little did he know, ‘it’s odd, because he teleported a whole bus in an empty football stadium instead, everyone getting off quickly apart from me’

He was unconscious. Jongin remembered instantly a boy stuck at the back of the bus, half-awake yet tripping in and out of consciousness, the new superhero teleporting inside and holding onto him, breaking the piece of metal which had crushed the boy’s legs, holding onto him as he teleports the both of them out.

‘I don’t remember much. I woke up in the hospital with a broken leg’, Baekhyun explains, ‘But I just remember how he held onto me. It was so warm and… Relieving’, Baekhyun comments, his eyes looking lost as he goes back to his memories, one which should have frightened him but instead gave him comfort, ‘Probably why I fell for you’

‘Huh?’

‘I felt you holding onto me’, Baekhyun smiles, ‘You probably ran to me when the thing fell on my head because I felt your arms around me instantly… It felt warm’, Baekhyun tries to hide the shy smile, but Jongin felt more nerving than he’d ever been, looking at his boyfriend in a new light, seeing the skinny boy who had finished high school whilst he was still a Junior when he got recruited as a hero by the IHA.

The stew was still steaming hot but none of them showed any signs of eating as Jongin walks around the counter, pulling Baekhyun off the kitchen stool, pulling his legs to wrap itself around his waist, his lips connecting to Baekhyun’s, his arms resting on the boy’s back, drawing him closer. Baekhyun melts into the kiss, never leaving Jongin’s side, his lips dancing with the latter, the night ending with their arms wrapped around in each other, their breathing in sync and their heart collided.

 

* * *

 

 

‘Dude, you saved Baekhyun during your first task?’, Chanyeol blurts out, in his suit and tie, dressed to the nines as he gets ready, Jongin in his hero attire since he’d just finished speaking in front of a high school assembly, teleporting straight to Chanyeol’s apartment since it’s his day off at the restaurant and they weren’t on call for another week.

‘Yeah… He was the boy that was stuck at the back’, Jongin explains to Chanyeol, shock till this day to find that he and Baekhyun had already been acquainted even before meeting.

‘What kind of fairy tale bullshit are the two of you in?’, Chanyeol laughs, fixing his tie as he prepares himself for a company meeting.

‘I don’t know…’, Jongin whispers, following Chanyeol around, the mask still on his face, his suit being more comfortable and humbled compared to the rest of his division, ‘But… What if Baekhyun does find out that I’m me… What is he going to do?’

‘You mean when he finds out that Jongin is Kai?’, Chanyeol asks, finally feeling content with his swept-back hair, walking out of his room and picking up his briefcase, ‘Probably give you a thank you blow job or something’

‘You are a disgusting human waste’, Jongin kicks Chanyeol’s legs, ‘Don’t berate Baekhyun like that’, he threatens his partner, Chanyeol opening the door of his penthouse and walking out, blowing a kiss at Jongin.

‘Off to my real work hun’, Chanyeol fakes a wink, Jongin rolling his eyes and watching Chanyeol saunter off, ‘Don’t wreck my apartment!’, he shouts a command at the superhero.

‘Bring me food!’, Jongin shouts back, laughing and closing the door behind him, taking off his mask and suit, running up to the sofa and sitting down to watch hours of trashy TV.

What they didn’t suspect is an Essence journalist walking by the corridor, hiding by the side of the exit stairs once he watched the future CEO of the Parks Enterprise blow a kiss to Kai the superhero.

The journalist feels his phone vibrating in his pocket, pulling it out and reading the text.

Baekhyun, where are you? Are you in front of my apartment yet?

Byun Baekhyun has just hit gold.

 

* * *

 

‘Jihyun!’, Baekhyun screams the moment his best friend opens the door of her apartment, shaking her arms and almost ripping her skin off her bones, ‘Jihyun!’

‘What is it?’, his best friend whines, trying to pull away from his grips, closing the door of her new apartment which she recently moved in a few weeks ago.

‘Park Chanyeol lives in this apartment!’, Baekhyun yells, his hands on his head in utter shock, ‘The Park Chanyeol!’

‘Oh, the fuckboy businessman?’, Jihyun asks, ‘Yeah I heard he lives here too’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?!’, Baekhyun shouts, running to her living room, sitting down on the floor as he pulls out his laptop.

‘Why would I tell you that?’, she turns to him, walking up to him with her bowl of ice cream, wearing pyjamas and her glasses sliding down the tip of her nose as she looks down to see what Baekhyun was typing on his computer, ‘Why are you looking for the Park Enterprise’s number?’

‘Because Chanyeol’s dating Kai!’, Baekhyun screams, can’t contain the adrenaline rushing through him as the sight of the two is still engraved in his mind.

‘That’s a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?’

‘I’m being serious! Jihyun! I saw them! I even heard Chanyeol calling him honey when I was on my way to your apartment’, Baekhyun tries to explain the situation, but since he didn’t have any photographic evidence he had to believe with what he’d heard and seen, watching the tall bachelor walking past him without noticing.

‘Are you being for real?’, Jihyun finally asks Baekhyun, seeing how determined he is, writing down the company’s number and already dialling it, ‘Wait… You’re serious?!’

 

* * *

 

‘Someone is here to see you’, Chanyeol secretary knocks on his office door, looking down to see the post-it note of an interview that was set up last minute, but since Chanyeol’s real name has been causing a stir after being caught in another set of party scandals, his father saw it fit to have another press story to cover up the previous mess.

They should’ve checked which news outlet they were allowed to walk straight into Park Chanyeol’s office.

‘Hello, my name is Byun Baekhyun-’

Chanyeol nearly chokes at his own spit as he looks up to find the familiar figure of his best friend’s boyfriend smiling down at him, wearing a sweater too big for him and 100% sure belonging to Jongin, his back at the side and his retro tape recorder in his hands.

‘Um… Hello?’, he greets the journalist with a questioning tone, too confused as to why Baekhyun was here and how he managed to set an appointment with him. How did this weirdo pull the strings of his own company, ‘And how may I help you?’

‘Well, I’m actually curious about something’, Baekhyun converses with him with a friendly smile, as if they’ve been friends for years, pulling out a small notepad, ‘I promised to write a good article about you for Essence and in exchange, I’m hoping we can strike a deal. Just you and me’

Chanyeol freezes. This does not sound good.

‘What is it?’

‘I’ll help clear your public image if you tell me a little information about Kai’

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Baekhyun has just killed two birds with one stone. He’s found out about me and Jongin. FUCK. Shoot me. Slice me into pieces…

‘Um… I don’t understand what-’

‘I have reasons to believe that you and Kai are in some form of relationship’

‘Wait’, now this extra information takes Chanyeol by surprise, ‘Can you repeat yourself please?’

‘You and Kai. I have witnesses which have seen the both of you together, conversing as a couple and such’, Baekhyun explains, over exaggerating the truth since there were no witnesses – there was just the one – which is him.

‘Someone saw me and Kai?!’, Chanyeol raises his voice. If he had the shot to deny the truth, he blew it, since his expression shows that he does know Kai and there was a tone of worry in his voice.

‘Don’t worry Mr Park, I am in no way going to expose your relationship with him. I’ll keep it hidden from my company as long as I can’, Baekhyun informs Chanyeol, looking down at his sheet of paper as he turns on the tape recorder, ‘Now, I just have a couple of questions…’

Jongin. We are fucked…

‘How did you and Kai meet?’

‘I’m sorry, but I am in no need to answer those questions’, Chanyeol picks himself back up after in the initial shock, ‘So, if you can please leave’

‘Please, Mr Park. I really need this information and I only have one week left for it’, Baekhyun finally cracks, a desperation in his tone as his boss gives him one more week to find Kai’s identity, otherwise his spread will be scrapped and he’ll be left making everyone coffee again, ‘I know he’s your boyfriend and you wanna protect him, but you of all people should know that living carelessly in front of the camera isn’t so bad, right?’

‘First of all,’, Chanyeol sighs, scratching his forehead, ‘I get called a dickhead by every article, so no, living in front of the camera is as bad as it sounds’, he sees the young journalist pout in front of him, ‘Second of all, me and Kai are not dating’

‘What?’, Baekhyun tilts his head, like a confused puppy, ‘But… I saw you two together. I heard you call him hon – I mean… I heard accounts of you addressing him as honey’, Baekhyun tries to brush his informal talk to the future CEO of the Park Enterprise.

‘Yes. We call each other honey and sweetheart but as a joke’

‘A joke?’

‘Me and Kai… Are… Friends’, Chanyeol closes his eyes in defeat, already regretting his decision.

‘Friends?’, Baekhyun looks down at his notes, his research showing that Chanyeol didn’t have any close friends in contact, ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes, I’m sure’

‘Was he a schoolmate?’

‘No’

‘A… College friend?’

‘No’

‘Then…’

‘We a few years back when I hired him to… Fix something in my apartment’, Chanyeol decides to flip the situation around. Baekhyun doesn’t know how they became acquainted, therefore he could make up bullshit and it’ll lead Baekhyun astray.

‘Fix something?’

‘Yes’, Chanyeol straightens his posture, feeling more confident, ‘He was there to fix my plumbing’, Chanyeol’s voice was stern and serious, a tone he would use so often during his business meetings, one which asserts power and confidence, so if this didn’t help persuade Baekhyun, he doesn’t know what does.

‘So, you’re telling me… That you became friends with your… plumber?’

‘Well, it sounds unbelievable if you say it like that’, Chanyeol points out, stressed at the fact that not only did Baekhyun not believe him, he now looked more suspicious than before.

‘I mean… Mr Park, I’m sure you’re a great man but… You befriending a plumber is just…’

‘Well, do you see me making friends with people in my level?’

‘Oh… Um… Not exactly’

‘Well, there you go. I’d rather be friends with people from humble backgrounds than the spoilt brats I grew up with’, Chanyeol responds with half the truth since he did find comfort in Kai’s presence more than his upper-class group purely for the down to earth lifestyle, but my god was Chanyeol making himself sound like a pitiful conglomerate like the kid from Richie Rich, alone and friendless.

‘Oh… Okay’, Baekhyun, slightly persuaded, looks down on his notes again.

‘Well, have you got anything to say about Kai’s character? What he likes, his hobbies and such?’

‘Huh… Aren’t you going to ask me more about his appearance? Or where he works? Don’t you wanna know you he is?’, Chanyeol was taken back at Baekhyun’s sudden change in his questions.

‘No, not really’, Baekhyun sighs, turning a page from his notes and reading further research that he did which led to nothing, ‘Can I be honest with you?’, he finally closes his small notebook, placing it on the floor beside his feet.

‘Um… Yeah sure’, this was getting awkward and Chanyeol didn’t know why he urged the young journalist to carry on talking to him.

‘I kind of like Kai’

‘Excuse me?’

‘I mean, he’s a super humble superhero, he doesn’t like getting too much spotlight and whenever he finishes his job, he just simply bows and leaves, unlike LOEY who always milks everyone’s praises a little too much’, Chanyeol tightens his lips and suppresses a glare, his fingers twitching to throw his

 He’s just so…’, Baekhyun smiles for a moment, ‘He even saved me once’.

Chanyeol stops to stare at Baekhyun, his fingers tapping on his desk as he watches the journalist go off to a daze about how amazing Kai was. It was making him feel sick just how perfect the two are for each other. It reminded him of the day Kai and Baekhyun recently got together, how the hero was so smitten over the older man with the cute smile and loud mouth, he wouldn’t shut up about his stupid date.

‘Fine’, Chanyeol whispers to himself, closing his eyes and already feeling the wave of regret surging through him as soon as he thought of the idea, ‘Maybe I can give you another story that’ll be a big enough scoop’

‘Scoop? Bigger than Kai’s secret identity?’, Baekhyun’s ears perked at the suggestion, giving Mr Park his utmost attention.

‘Well… I’m acquainted with a few more superheroes and…’

 

* * *

 

 

 

‘Kim Jongin!’, Junmyeon screeches the moment the elevator doors slide open to the top floor building, his hands gripping on a scrunched-up magazine with his and LOEY’s pictures plastered all over it, ‘Jongin!’

The top floor where the heroes can hang around during their on-call sleeps on beanie bags and play pool and arcade games all day since the floor has become their own personal playground, Jongin holding his cue stick and waiting for Chanyeol’s turn, hearing his name being screeched at a high frequency, looking ahead to find Junmyeon with a hoodie and a mask on.

‘Junmyeon? What are you doing here?’, Jongin asks, ‘You’re not on-call for another week’, Chanyeol looks up to spot the angry water bender, eyes shaking as he slowly turns to avoid eye contact, trying hard not to look too suspicious.

‘This’, Junmyeon hisses, slapping the magazine onto the pool table, messing up Jongin and Chanyeol’s game, the other balls rolling out of their place, ‘Explains this to me’, Junmyeon points at the front page of the magazine, headline in bold and yellow, so tacky and cheap looking Junmyeon wants to rip his hair at the sight of it.

‘Superheroes, LOEY and Suho confirmed to be dating… Who wrote this?’, Jongin looks confused, looking at a picture that looked highly suspicious and intimate since Chanyeol had his arms wrapped around Suho, but if he can remember the day clearly, this must be when they got pissed drunk and Suho collapsed on Chanyeol so the latter had no choice but to carry him home. To be even more precise, from this angle, he can clearly recall taking the photo himself.

‘Have a wild guess who?’, Jongin ignores Junmyeon’s yelling as he scrolls the magazine to find the page of the story, looking right at the bottom on who the writer is. Byun Baekhyun.

‘What?’, he whispers to himself, scrolling the pages again, rereading the article over and over again, noticing the details of the night and how suspiciously precise Baekhyun had written about it. About the cocktail party and the vodka shots, the fact that Suho and Chen were the ones who got drunk first, how they went to the Karaoke bar afterwards to spend the rest of the night. How did he know all of that?

‘And whilst we’re on the topic of your boyfriend, may I ask how he got these photos? Huh?’, Junmyeon continues to give Jongin grief, even though it was his first-time hearing about the news too, the rest of the heroes resting looking across with curious eyes over the ruckus that was happening by the far-left corner.

‘I have no idea… I swear… If he had gone through my phone, he would have known all of our identities… His story would’ve been the revelations of all our identities, not this’, Jongin explains to Junmyeon, but even he was quite confused. If Baekhyun didn’t go through his phone, then how did he get this information?

One person who stood quietly amongst the argument in Park Chanyeol, his eyes looking down as he slowly, so, so, slowly, puts his cue stick on the pool table, trying to avoid everyone’s eye contact and slowly trying to walk past Jongin and Junmyeon who were too busy looking at the magazine article. He lowers himself, hunched like a burglar, just about to escape when Jongin sees him sneaking out by the side of his eyes.

‘You! Where are you going?’, Jongin calls out to Chanyeol, making him lose his balance and nearly trip over his shoelace in shock, ‘What are you doing? Have you read the article?’, Jongin looks worried for his partner, quickly taking out his phone and opening Twitter and not to his surprise, this was number one trending in Korea at this very moment.

‘Huh? The article? Why… Yeah… I heard about it…’, Chanyeol scratches the back of his neck, still standing a couple of feet away from the pair, ‘Sucks doesn’t it, but what can you do?’

‘Fucking deny it!’, Junmyeon yells out, ‘Tell the company to deny everything! This article is lying’

‘Is it though?’, Chanyeol’s voice is high, too high for his normally deep voice, his face scrunching up as he questions Junmyeon’s statement.

‘What do you mean is it? Look at the last paragraph! He wrote that we kissed and you spent the night at my place’, Junmyeon points once again at the damned article, ‘Look! How does he even know that?’

Jongin felt it too. He felt the odd sensation that Baekhyun just couldn’t always have the luck of writing a good and accurate story, it’s too farfetched to make it all up. Which means he probably got some information from somewhere… From someone…

‘To be honest, I did spend the night at your place that night so that part isn’t technically a lie…’

‘And the kissing? That is bullshit and a lie and I can sue for false reporting!’

‘Can you though?’, Chanyeol repeats himself again, Junmyeon rolling the magazine and slapping it on Chanyeol, ‘Ow!’

‘Can you? What do you mean by that? Huh? What the hell do you fucking mean by that?!’, Junmyeon continues to assault Chanyeol, Jongin looking over at the pair, his head tilting at Chanyeol’s ambiguous actions. Why was his partner defending Baekhyun’s article all of a sudden? He’s been so anti-Baekhyun since the beginning…

‘Park Chanyeol… Did you give this story to Baekhyun by any chance?’, he calls out, stopping Junmyeon’s actions in mid-motion, Junmyeon slowly turning to look at Chanyeol in the eye, ‘You gave this story for Baekhyun to write for his news piece didn’t you?’

Chanyeol was silent, still crouched from trying to get away from Junmyeon’s hits, coughing awkwardly as he tries to get away from Junmyeon, combing his hair back into place.

‘Define give?’

‘You fucking…’, Junmyeon breathes out at the realisation that he had been blaming the wrong person, ‘You’ve been working for that trash of a company?’

‘No! I just… Baekhyun… Needed a story by the end of the month and…’

‘He found out about me? Didn’t he?’, Jongin asks Chanyeol, observing his best friend’s awkward stance.

‘No… Well… Nearly…’, Chanyeol hangs his head back in defeat, ‘He saw you in my apartment’

‘What?’

‘He thought Kai was dating me’

‘LOEY and Kai?’

‘No. Kai and me, Park Chanyeol… He came to my office and asked a ton of questions asking about me and Kai and if he was given one more clue, he would’ve figured out both me and Kai’s identity. I mean, he saw Kai and me in my penthouse the other week’, Chanyeol didn’t mention that fact that for a full five minutes, Baekhyun was fangirling over Kai too, it didn’t seem like this was the time or place for it.

‘So, you threw the both of us under the bus instead?’

‘Another dating scandal is not going to ruin me and I’m not going to have mine or Jongin’s identity revealed. Being Park Chanyeol is a pain enough, can you imagine being both in the spotlight at the same time?’, Chanyeol calls out, ‘We can always say we broke up in like a month’s time’

‘But we’re not dating in the first place!’, Junmyeon yells for the umpteenth time.

‘But you did kiss’, Jongin adds on after the initial shock of the news waves off him, ‘Chanyeol told me the morning after’

‘Excuse me? No, we didn’t’, Junmyeon, hands on his hips, looking at Chanyeol who is kicking the carpet with his foot, his eyes admiring his shoelace and his hands behind his back, ‘Did we?’

‘I don’t know… We may have… Snogged… Or something like that…’, this conversation just kept getting weirder and weirder that Jongin couldn’t even quickly wrap his head around the news overall about Baekhyun because now he has to worry about a different news involving his partner and another superhero.

‘So, are you two dating or not? You guys have got to make it clear to the company before they approach the article’, Jongin, being the only level-headed person as of right now, summarises the two big revelations of the argument and not one of them is even about the reason why Junmyeon came here in the first place. The three of them, being the seniors in the company has started to gain attention from the rest of the rookie heroes, their eyes gazing upon each of them, their previous actions left abandoned. Junmyeon automatically noticed the prying eyes straight away, looking around to the younglings and giving them all warning looks to get back to their own business, his hands on his hips.

‘There’s really nothing more than the company could do anyway…’, Chanyeol whispers, kicking the carpet floor like a guilty child caught stealing candy, ‘I confirmed it myself’

‘What?!’, another set of screams made everyone else turn back to the area where the pool tables are, their eyes landing on the fire bending conglomerate being choked by a water bending engineer, one which did they did not see coming, followed by a teleporting cook attempting to pry the two off each other. 

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The three hears the sirens blowing off the top floor, red lights flashing above them, signalling a cry for help from the public, their actions stopping once they find that the rookie heroes were looking at them expectantly, being reminded that Kai and LOEY are on call for this week, their bodies slowly charging to their personal stations, hands already ripping their normal clothes off and quickly dressing in their uniforms, grabbing their masks.

‘What is it this time?’, Kai presses the intercom which directs them with the police department calling for back-up, putting on his plain white mask which complements his grey suit, one which Gucci designed themselves during their superhero launching design.

‘A fire’

‘Shit’, Chanyeol murmurs, bending down to tie his shoes, ‘My reversal powers are still glitchy’, Chanyeol calls out, not sure if he’s going to be useful for this task since his powers are clearly not needed and he hasn’t fully mastered in reversing his powers and manipulating fire to disappear.

Kai quickly turns his gaze towards Junmyeon, his eyes pleading behind the mask, begging Junmyeon even though today is his off day and his first ever scandal has just been released.

‘Fine’, Junmyeon sighs, going over to the other side of the room where his personal station is, unlocking his closet, pressing his hand on the fingerprint lock, ‘But you guys owe me’

‘How about a date with Park Chanyeol?’, Chanyeol jokes, which was not received well since he felt a splatter of water hitting him in the face as soon as he turns to laugh at Junmyeon.

‘Hurry, there are still some people trapped at the Essence building’, they hear the commands of the police officers, all three once again pausing in their movements.

‘Excuse me?’, Chanyeol is the first to call out, but nothing needed to be said twice, their location tag of the police cars being in the same familiar address that Jongin had memories and had so often picked up and dropped off his loud mouth boyfriend before.

‘Baekhyun…’, Jongin whispers amid the commotion, instantly disappearing from the building, leaving the other two heroes who are still getting dressed.

 

* * *

 

He lands straight into the top floor of the building, his eyes scanning the hallways and corridors which had started to be engulfed in flames, the crackling of fire touching wood and melting plastic chairs which served as barriers from Kai had he not have the ability to teleport. He rushes to the bathroom, banging the flaming doors open, crying out a name, his name. Byun Baekhyun.

It seems like the top floor is empty, no signs of life around the orange landscape which had Kai suffocating. He breathes in heavy sighs, teleporting to the sides to open every window which was still openable, stepping over burnt carpets. He quickly teleports to the floor beneath, checking the area whilst trying to avoid the crumbling ceilings which had threatened to fall on him. He didn’t have any powers which helped him avoid or protect himself from any of the fire, so he trusted his instincts, moving from one area to the next, checking each corner and room, his suit being fireproof, so he won’t burn with the flames brushes his sleeves.

‘Hey, Kai!’, he hears screaming in his earpiece, LOEY’s loud voice overbearing, ‘Where the fuck are you?’

‘I’m on the top floors’, Kai yells out, the flickering of the flames and clambering off the walls as they fall apart serves Kai a failing signal as his earpiece goes in and out of focus.

‘Suho’s just cleared the first two floors and I’ve managed to save a few people, but someone said there are others stuck on the eight floor’, he informs his partner, ‘Go!’, LOEY screams into the piece as they hear a massive explosion, causing the already weak ground to start shaking, Kai looking down to see the cracks starting to form.

‘I’m on it’, he responds, not knowing if LOEY got the message or not. Without questioning his safety, he teleports straight in the middle of the eight floor, looking up and down the corridor for any signs of people, his legs running to the first door he sees, pushing past the flames and holding his breath as he feels his head become light from the smoke which burns his lungs, his eyes watering as he scans the room.

‘Help! Someone help!’, he hears a voice screaming at him, abandoning the room that he’s in and quickly coming over to where the voice is coming.

‘Baekhyun?!’

‘Oh, thank god!’, he sees the short journalist cradling someone unconscious in his arms, his eyes crying out for help, his sleeves ripped and burnt, his skin raw and red. Kai quickly teleports to his side, his arms automatically wrapping around Baekhyun.

‘I’m gonna get you out of here, okay?’

‘No! Wait!’, Baekhyun calls out, ‘There are people stuck inside that room!’, he shouts to him, pointing at a locked door which fire dancing around it, ‘ There are at least a dozen people in there! Save them first!’, Baekhyun pleads, pushing Kai out of the way of a falling piece of wood.

Kai had no sense of evaluation of the situation. He knew he should have teleported Baekhyun and the woman in his arms first, but his body instantly teleports into the locked burning room which was surrounded by the furious flames which refuse to disappear, the skin beneath his suit suffocating from the wretched heat. He looks down to find more than a dozen people lying unconscious on the floor and on tables, his hands quickly dragging each body, trying to pile them on top of each other, or to at least have them touching each other, hands on hands, his foot stepping into a burning chair, making him screech in pain as he looks down to find his right foot on fire.

He looks around the room, closing his eyes as he teleports the first five people he can drag out of the building and onto the front where police cars and fire engines have surrounded the perimeter, firefighters and medics focusing in saving people nearer to the ground. He spots Suho standing on top of a police car, his arms outstretched as he crushes the pipes from underneath the whole street and the three other roads ahead of the building and guide all of the water at the centre of the building, guiding through the windows and inside the buildings, flowing it through the corridors so people can have safe passages out.

‘Kai!’, LOEY shouts, running over to where he is, standing above a pile of unconscious people, ‘Are there more?’, LOEY look up at him, wrapping his arms around the people Kai had just saved, earning a nod from his partner before he teleports back inside the building, ‘Guys! We need more paramedics!’, LOEY screams for more help, his arms flailing up as he waves for the ambulances attention.

Kai teleports straight back into the locked room, dragging more people together and repeating the same routine, teleporting them out and taking them safely to where LOEY is waiting for him with a team of paramedics.

LOEY had strayed away from them for a moment, trying his best to keep the fire enclosed in one building, not letting the flames through to the other connecting buildings or houses. His hands clenched as he continues to keep the fire sealed in one are as Suho tries to diminish it, five or six engines aligned with him, spraying water alongside him.

After Kai manages to get everyone in the locked room out, he quickly teleports back to where Baekhyun was, his chest sunken low as he sees Baekhyun laying on top of the woman, unconscious.

‘Baekhyun!’, his hands quickly reached for him, teleporting straight out of the building and onto the street, LOEY running by his side the moment he glances at the familiar looking boy, his eyes widen in shock, legs running faster to be by his partner’s side.

‘Hey, hey, hey, hey, Kai, is he okay?’, he asks, frantic and anxious as Kai continues to hold onto Baekhyun, ‘Can someone come over here?!’, he turns to his back and cries for a paramedic, but it seems like their hands are full of more people being dragged out of the building by other firefighters.

‘LOEY, help her, she’s unconscious too’, Kai turns to the woman Baekhyun had been holding onto, combing her hair back and pressing his finger to her neck, trying to find a pulse, ‘She’s not breathing’

‘Ah, shit’, LOEY looks down to her, ‘I did a first aid course when I was in college, but shit, I didn’t actually think I was going to use it’

‘Dammit, Chanyeol! Just fucking do it!’, Kai snapped for a moment, holding onto Baekhyun, feeling the boy’s chest heaving, which means he was still alive. LOEY freaks out for a moment, laying the girl on the floor, holding his hands together and beginning to press onto the girl’s chest in rhythmic motions.

One, two, three, four, five…

LOEY continues to count to thirty whilst he presses her chest, getting frustrated when he doesn’t sense any movement, leaning over and lifting the back of her neck gently before parting her lips, breathing into her mouth before starting the whole cycle again, his mask covering his face and making it nearly impossible to perform sufficient CPR on her.

‘Kai! We need you back in there!’, he hears Suho screaming over to them, Kai turning back to spot Suho still on top of the police car, commanding him to part from his Baekhyun who laid still and unconscious. He pauses. He didn’t want to leave Baekhyun. Not when he wasn’t sure if he was going to be okay, and it seems like LOEY couldn’t give him the medical attention that he needs, and he couldn’t bring himself to leave him…

‘Kai! There are people still up there!’, Suho shouts again, the two heroes making eye contact, the water bender instantly seeing the desperation in Kai’s eyes, looking down to find Baekhyun wrapped around his arms. He sighs, trying to find make sense of the situation, but as the fire continues to burn over the building, these were the times where they could not afford to be selfish.

‘Kai! Get back in!’, he commands the hero one more time, using his powers to break another line of pumps from two more neighbourhoods nearby, crushing them to the core and guiding the water to him when he finds out one of the engines had run out.

Kai closes his eyes, leaning down to give his Baekhyun a soft kiss before laying him down on the ground and teleporting straight into the fire, trying his best to the avoid the fire, holding his breathe as much as he can as the smokes begin to turn into a sickening black, kicking every door and teleporting each person one at a time since his energy had started to weaken and his ability to teleport huge bulks had simmered.

LOEY could not believe that there are still no paramedics coming towards them, even when two people lay unconscious next to him. His face begins to sweat underneath his stupid mask, itching and irritating him, blocking his mouth from breathing in air to the still unconscious girl. He breaks away from her, looking behind to find a crowd being pushed back by the police, curious bystanders and news reporters already standing by with huge cameras and smartphones in their hands and at the ready.

He had always hated those godforsaken cameras. As Chanyeol and even as LOEY. He has hated it since he was young, but my god if he couldn’t save this girl, he knew that it was going straight to his guilty conscious and he did not have the energy to deal with that.

‘Fuck it’, he growls, taking off his salamander coloured mask which had blocked the public from seeing his real identity, his hair messy and drenched in sweat as he begins another routine of CPR, his hands pressing onto the girl’s chest, counting to thirty before pressing his lips onto hers, gulping air and breathing it into her mouth in continuous motion, again and again, and again and again.

‘Chanyeol?!’

‘Isn’t that Park Chanyeol?!’

‘Guys! Look other there!’

‘LOEY?! No, that’s LOEY!’

‘But that’s Park Chanyeol!’

He hears them. He hears them all in the midst of the chaos and flames, but he doesn’t care, he continues to try and save her, pushing her chest until he feels her bones crushing from the force, but it’s okay. He remembered the teacher mentioning how some ribs could be bruised or broken when performing CPR, so he paid no mind to it.

‘Blurgh’, he breathes a sigh of relief when he sees her eyes open, her mouth opening to gulp more air, wincing in pain as she attempts to breathe.

‘Paramedic! Paramedic, over here!’, he yells for help, turning his back, his face on show for everyone to see, cameras already flashing to capture a historical moment. He finds a paramedic running towards them finally, bending down next to him, checking her pulse.

‘She has fractured ribs’, he explains when they both hear her wincing in pain, her hands holding onto her chest.

‘How do you know?’

‘I just performed some hardcore CPR here’, LOEY points out dramatically, ‘Of course, I may have accidentally fractured her goddamn ribs!’, he yells, flailing his arms in the air out of frustration and stress, ‘Now, can you get them both out of here, please? This one is breathing just fine but he’s unconscious and needs medical attention immediately’, he explains to the paramedic before standing up and putting his mask back on, not being told what to do but running straight into the building whilst the rest of the public screams out his name.

 

* * *

 

 

LOEY parts the fire like the parting of the Red Sea, walking over the pile of rubble as he runs and keeps running until he’s in the seventh floor, looking around in search of his partner. He had noticed that Kai hadn’t come back after a while and it seems like most people from the first five floors had been safely evacuated, which means Kai was still in the top building.

‘Kai!’, he calls out for his partner, clenching his hands and directing for the fire to go right into Suho’s direction, already seeing his water reaching the seventh floor and slowly drowning the flames, ‘Kai!’

No one was here on the top floor and he knew Kai had already cleared the top floor all the way down to the eight. Which means he must be in here.

‘Kai! You motherfucker answer me!’, he screams out his partner’s name one more time, his hands clasped together and pushing the fire out of his way.

‘Chanyeol…’, he hears his voice, it was weak and barely audible amidst the crackling of the flames, but he runs towards it anyway, stepping past fire which didn’t hurt him one bit, seeing Kai leaning over, his sleeves burnt to a crisp and his arms in torturous burning red.

‘Ah shit, Kai… Stay there!’, he shouts, ‘I’m coming’, he runs over to where Kai is, wrapping his arms around the weak boy’s waist, ‘You okay?’

‘This floor’s clear…’, Kai breathes out heavily, coughing out the smoke which had begun to suffocate his burning lungs, his arms twitching in pain as he looks down to find his skin sheering, ‘We… Need… To find others…’

‘Don’t worry Kai, everyone’s already been evacuated’, Chanyeol informs Kai, feeling his partner’s weight against his hold, Kai losing his energy to even stand up by himself.

‘Just stay awake. Stay awake’, Chanyeol continues to murmur the desperate commands in his partner's ears as he feels the gentle stream of cold water beneath their feet, Suho already at his peak in trying to eradicate the fire, Chanyeol dragging his partner over the piles of rubble and ashes.

‘LOEY!’, hears Suho screaming the moment the pair of heroes walk out of the building, Kai looking dangerously injured, the stretcher already running over to where they are, helping LOEY hoist his partner up, looking down at Kai’s face painted in ash, the paramedics quickly wrapping an oxygen mask over him.

Chanyeol looks around the crowd of people of whose seen his face, their eyes wide in wonder and confusion of how the heroic philanthropist LOEY can ever be the same person as billionaire playboy Park Chanyeol. He rests his hand on his waist, head hung low and eyes closed as he hears the screams of reporters, paparazzi who had heard of the news and wanted to be the first to witness it, the public with their phones out right in front of a tragic incident, too invested in him to see the burning building in front of them, multiple polices officers pushing them back and away from the scene.

He was so going to regret this later.

He takes off his mask to confirm his identity to the wavering people, lines of gasps filling the area as he walks over to where the police car is, Suho still standing on top of it.

‘LOEY? What the fuck are you doing without a mask on?!’, Suho cries out, looking down to find LOEY’s mask to have been abandoned and thrown to the floor, the stupid, tall and lanky hero climbing over next to him, his hands reached out. Suho watched as Chanyeol gather the remaining fire all at the centre of the building.

‘Let’s just quickly get this over and done with’, Chanyeol sighs, not seeing any point in trying to hide his identity anymore, ‘I can feel a long ass press conference coming after this and I just want to get it over and done with’

‘I fucking hate you, you know, that right?’, Suho growls at him, using the remaining water he had to drown out the remaining fire which Chanyeol held onto.

‘You’re not going to be the one to suffer the wrath of my dad’

‘Yeah, but I’m going to have to keep up with paparazzi chasing me down and asking me questions about my fire bending conglomerate fuckboy boyfriend’

‘Oh, so I’m your boyfriend now, am I?’, Chanyeol smirks at Suho, raising his brows in question only to be splattered in water once again, slapping his face with a force which made him fall off the roof of the car.

 

* * *

 

Jongin opens his eyes, feeling a stinging pain everywhere, his eyelids heavy and his face all bruised. His visions were blurry and wavering, but once it adjusted, he finds Chanyeol and Junmyeon sitting side by side, both reading a magazine as they wait for him to wake up, Junmyeon randomly having his head leaning over Chanyeol’s broad shoulders.

‘Please tell me I didn’t wake up in an alternate universe where you two are married’, Jongin groans out, his voice hoarse and broken. He hears the beeping of a machine, looking down at his arms which were completely wrapped in bandages apart from a small area where the IV drops are injected in.

‘God, he wishes he was married to me’, Chanyeol mutters, earning a soft hit from Suho, the pair of them looking down at Jongin, both standing up and helping him sit up from his bed.

‘How long have I been out?’

‘Barely twelve hours’, Junmyeon informs him, ‘You didn’t need an operation, but they let you be in a comatose state, so your body can heal itself’, the pair of them tries to accommodate Jongin by lifting his pillow behind his back whilst holding onto him when he winces at the use of his arms.

‘Did I burn my arm?’

‘Yeah, third degree’, Chanyeol points out, Jongin hissing in pain as he tries to bend his arm but failing miserably.

‘Fuck…’, Jongin grimaces, laying his head back in pain, ‘I’m going to need a three-week break after this…’

‘Don’t worry, the company has already confirmed your paid holiday’, Chanyeol informs him, ‘Which means I’m partnered up with a rookie for the next month’, he rolls his eyes at the information texted to him a couple of hours ago which he did not welcome since that was basically him babysitting a newbie.

‘Jongdae also came to visit but he’s out trying to buy us some snacks’, Junmyeon points to the spare chair where a bag was resting on, confirming another hero’s visitation, Junmyeon and Chanyeol sitting back in there sit and they let Jongin be, since they both know that Jongin doesn’t like to be babied in the first place.

It took a while for Jongin’s memory to clear from the hooded smoke, but once it did, he opens his eyes in panic, reaching out for his phone but wincing once again at the sudden movement.

‘Shit’, he hisses, bending over to nestle his arms together, ‘Where’s Baekhyun?!’, he calls out, both Junmyeon and Chanyeol reaching their hand out to help Jongin.

‘Don’t worry, your dad’s with him’

‘My… My dad?’, Jongin tilts his head in confusion, ‘What is my dad doing with Baekhyun?’

‘Well, he sort of found out about the both of you and since we’re here with you…’, Chanyeol scratches the back of his neck, ‘He thought it best for Baekhyun to at least have someone by his side when he wakes up and he knows you won’t be able to be there with him’

 

* * *

 

‘Byun Baekhyun?’, Jongin’s father whispers when he hears Baekhyun turn, the journalist fluttering his eyes open, seeing white walls and the smell of antiseptic.

‘What… What’s going on?’, he murmurs, his voice croaky and dry. He swallows his saliva as he turns his gaze over to where Jongin’s dad was sitting, reaching out for his hand, ‘Where am I?’

‘You were in an accident’, he explains, ‘Your company building caught on fire, but you were safely brought out’, Baekhyun doesn’t feel any excruciating pain, but he does seem to struggle to breathe once in a while, looking down at his arm to find an IV drip injected into him.

‘God, my head hurts…’, he whines, reaching up to stroke his forehead, his bottom lip pouting as he feels a pounding on the back of his head.

‘The doctors said you breathed in too much carbon monoxide, so you’ll be feeling a migraine for a couple of hours’, Jongin’s dad digs inside his back pockets, ‘They told me to get you these prescript painkillers for it, but you have to take them after a meal, do you want me to grab you something to eat first?’, he asks, looking worriedly as he observes the way Baekhyun’s nose crunches, his lips twitching whilst he tries to massage his forehead.

‘That would be great, thanks’, he mutters, watching Jongin’s dad stand up and walk over to the door.

‘What do you feel like having? A sandwich? Or maybe a wrap?’

‘Kimbap would be great’

‘Sure, I’ll go grab you some’

‘Thanks dad’, he calls out, making the elder freeze for a moment, his hands resting on the doorknob but not moving it quite yet, looking back to see Baekhyun relax in bed, closing his eyes and trying not to let his headache make him throw up.

‘Sure, kid’, he calls back, giving up on the kid calling him dad. He had asked Baekhyun to stop addressing him that, but the little persistent kid continues to ignore, so much so that he’s starting to get used to it.

 

* * *

 

‘Dad!’

‘Jongin!’, his dad runs up to his son the moment he sees his boy in a hospital gown, dragging his IV drip with him in a long metal rod with wheels. He hugs his son tightly, squeezing the life out of him, ‘How are you? Are you okay?’, he looks at Jongin up and down, trying to see if his son had any more injuries. Jongin, despite having an IV drop still injected in his arm is already out of the hospital gown and in some oversized shirt and sweatpants after complaining about the uncomfortable gown in which Chanyeol sneakily gave him a pair of his own clothes for Jongin to change into.

‘I’m all good’, Jongin smiles, feeling his dad stroke his hair off his forehead, giving him another embrace, ‘What have you got there?’, he points to the small plastic bag he had in his hands.

‘Oh, this? Some food for Baekhyun. He’s having a migraine and he needs to take his pills, so…’, he sees his son’s smile falter and an expression of worry on his face, ‘But don’t worry. He’s fine and doing well’

Jongin looks down on the ground, staring at his bare feet since he didn’t bother to wear any slippers, his arms struggling to bend due to the bandages.

‘I can’t even visit him’, he whispers, Jongin’s dad patting his shoulder, ‘Has he asked about me?’

‘Of course, he has. Would he be Baekhyun if he didn’t?’, the pair of them start to laugh, although Jongin did have to stop for a moment from the pain of his bruised stomach. Jongin’s father quickly leans in to help Jongin stand, Jongdae walking past with the same plastic bag as Jongin’s father, running over to them.

‘Mr Kim, Jongin, do you need any help?’, Jongdae’s already had his arms wrapped around Jongin, allowing the injured hero to lean on him.

‘God, you guys didn’t tell me how much this is going to hurt like a bitch’

‘What? Running through a burnt building?’, Jongdae points out, chuckling at the way the younger hero whines, ‘I’m pretty sure everyone would know not to run straight into a burning building’, Jongdae chuckles, Jongin not appreciating the sarcasm.

‘There you guys are!’, they hear Chanyeol’s voice, loud and arrogant, coming into the scene, his long legs walking over to them, looking at them up and down with his hands on his hips, ‘Junmyeon and I have been waiting for the food’, he reaches his hand out and grabs the plastic bag from Jongdae.

‘Dad?’

‘Oh fuck’, they all turn to find Baekhyun also making his way over from the end, his hospital gown slightly big on him, exposing his collarbone.

No one knew what to do, so Chanyeol just threw Jongdae on top of Jongin, kicking them to the other corner of the hallway whilst Jongin’s dad races his way over to Baekhyun, turning him around and dragging Baekhyun back to his room.

‘What are you doing up? You’re supposed to be in bed’, Jongin’s dad murmurs to Baekhyun, turning around to watch Chanyeol having a frenzy as he looks around to see where to hide the two without making too much noise.

‘Yeah, but you were taking your time’, Baekhyun whines, trying to turn around to see what Jongin’s dad was looking at, but he was frantically twisted back to face the front, ‘What’s going on?’

‘Oh nothing, I just need you to get back to bed and rest, okay?’

‘Okay…’, Baekhyun complies to him, dragging his IV drip along with him and feeling slightly dizzy having to stand up and walk around with a headache, ‘Do you know when Jongin will be coming over?’, he asks, a slight bit of disappointment in his voice since his boyfriend hasn’t been able to visit him in the hospital just yet. Jongin’s father instantly picked up his sad voice and tried hard to comfort him.

‘He already did, Baekhyun. He visited you whilst you were asleep, and I told him to go back to the restaurant’

‘What? But why?’, Baekhyun pouts his lower lip at the thought of Jongin watching over him whilst he was unconscious, ‘Did you at least tell him that I’m fine now?’

‘Yeah, of course, I texted him just now’

‘Oh’, Baekhyun smiles at the thought, ‘Does that mean he’s coming over now to visit me?’

Gosh, this kid is so persistent.

‘Maybe… The restaurant is still slightly busy, so I don’t know if he can just yet’

‘Why don’t you just go back and take his place instead?’

Gosh, this fucking kid.

 

* * *

 

‘Hey, hey’, Junmyeon calls them all over once he spotted the three of them hunched over and sneaking their way back into Jongin’s room, Chanyeol looking around to check if the short journalist was anywhere insight before making a run, ‘Hey guys! Yixing’s here!’

At the sound of his name, Jongin instantly brightens up, running over before whining at the pain which occurs whenever he moves too fast, Jongdae holding him up as they walk into the room, the IHA doctor standing in front of them with his hands resting on his waist, looking like a disappointed mother.

‘Why is it, whenever I’m called in to heal someone, it’s always one of you’, he sighs, his round glasses resting on his face as he watches the four idiots of the company guilty smiling at him, ‘I always have my work cut out for me when it comes to you four’

‘Don’t blame us, they always give us all the hard work’, Chanyeol defends himself, although he out of everyone shouldn’t really be talking, especially to Yixing of all people. Yixing isn’t a superhero per say but is the IHA’s main doctor and the COO of the whole entire company since his mother owns the goddamn organisation, thus, he is always responsible for the image of their heroes, so often being the one to clean up everyone’s mess – most importantly – Park Chanyeol’s.

‘Chanyeol, if you keep on talking, I will fire you’, Yixing rolls his eyes at the sound of the spoilt brat’s nagging, ‘And to think you’d learn your lesson as a fellow conglomerate, but apparently, you wet your pants over a scandal’, Jongdae, Jongin and Junmyeon all turn to gaze at Chanyeol whose head is hung long and hands held tightly together like a child being lectured. Yixing has always had a distaste against Chanyeol and it clearly showed.

‘It’s not all his fault’, Junmyeon points out, ‘I’ve also confirmed as Suho that we’re dating’

‘You what?’, both Jongin and Jongdae simultaneously call out, their eyes landing on both Junmyeon and Chanyeol, confused at the situation on hand.

‘But why?’, Jongdae questions, but he didn’t really an answer and Yixing was too busy unwrapping Jongin’s bandages, seeing the red flashes of burnt flesh, tutting at the sight of the once perfect smooth arm grazed in imperfection and a lot of pus.

‘This is gonna hurt a bit’, he warns the teleporter, wrapping his gloved hands around both arms, gripping tighter and releasing his powers over him, Jongin whining at the stinging pain of new flesh smoothing over his burnt ones.

‘That’s disgusting’, Chanyeol whispers, his face grimacing at the sight whilst Jongdae continues to hold onto Jongin, feeling the poor pained boy’s head resting on his shoulders.

‘Look, I need all of you to straighten yourselves’, Yixing continues to lecture the four senior heroes whilst healing Jongin at the same time, ‘It’s only May and barely the end of the first half of the year and I’ve had yet another hero’s identity revealed at the beginning of the year’, he turns his glare over at Jongdae, ‘Plus a dating scandal by you’, Yixing once again turns over and gives Chanyeol a piercing cold expression, ‘Plus, taking off your mask in the field? May I remind you that that’s a breach of your contract and your pay will decrease by 25%’

‘Oh, I’m shaking in my boots’, Chanyeol mutters to himself, Junmyeon elbowing him in the stomach to shut up before he makes it any worse, ‘If you truly must know, I did it to save someone’s life, not because I suddenly want to be known’

‘Which is why I haven’t fired you yet’, Yixing points back, this time Chanyeol feeling slightly intimidated due to the fact that Yixing totally has the power to fire him and his superiority complex is not going to be okay if that happens, ‘Alright, your arms seem to be just about fine and I think your bruises and cuts will fade away in time’, Yixing looks over at his work after telling the heroes off, looking down at Jongin’s now smooth tanned arms, assessing over it to see if he’d missed a spot, ‘I’ll leave you guys to it’, he announces his departure, taking his bag and putting on his jacket and sunglasses, ‘And I suspect all of you to be reflecting upon your actions, okay?’

‘Okay’, they all simultaneously repeat after Yixing, bowing to their superior as he walks out of the room, Chanyeol muttering trails of curses after the door shuts.

‘He’s such a big headed… Ergh’, Chanyeol didn’t even finish his sentence as he continues to whine at how annoying Yixing was, sitting down on the chair next to Junmyeon, both Jongdae and Jongin looking at the way he so nonchalantly reached out to hold onto Junmyeon’s hands.

‘So, are you two actually dating or what?’, Jongdae raises an eyebrow, looking at Jongin with a playful smirk as Chanyeol realises his actions, about to pull away but Junmyeon kept his hold.

‘That’s what the article says’, Junmyeon points out, a wave of whoops and clapping emitting from the latter pair, Jongin finally having the strength to clap his hands together whilst Jongdae release somewhat of a dinosaur scream which can most likely be heard from the other side of the building.

‘Your welcome’, Jongin laughs, seeing the way Junmyeon glares at them both, rolling his eyes in frustration when Chanyeol did nothing to stop the unnecessary banter.

‘Welcome to what?’

‘My boyfriend caused this’, he points at the two of them, which probably hit home since Junmyeon grabs a pillow from behind him, throwing it at Jongin.

‘I’m still pissed about that!’

‘Whatever’, Jongin rolls his eyes, laughing at the way Jongdae goes over to them, singing a corny love song probably from the eighties, ‘I’m going to visit said boyfriend’, he informs them all before waving a goodbye to his goofy friends and teleporting to the corridor where Baekhyun’s room is, looking over in search of his name. He finally spots the familiar name, smiling from ear to ear and just as he was about to slide the door open, he hears loud voices conversing with each other, making him pause as he leans his ear in.

‘Dad, why hasn’t he come yet? And why isn’t he picking up my calls?’

‘Baekhyun, calm down, he’s probably just finishing up some work in the restaurant’

‘Is the restaurant more important than me?’

‘Well, of course, it is. That’s where our daily income comes from’

‘Hey! That’s mean! Can you at least call him? I wanna hear his voice’

‘I told you Baekhyun, he’s not going to pick up-’

Jongin laughs, having enough of their argument and sliding the doors open, both their heads turning to the direction of the sudden movement, Baekhyun’s eyes quickly lighting up at the sight of Jongin.

‘Jongin!’, he hears him scream, trying to get up but being pinned back down by his dad who glares at him, questioning his arrival. Jongin rolls up his sleeves and shows his dad his healed arm in silent explanation.

‘Hey, Baek. Sorry that I couldn’t visit you sooner’, he walks over, sitting down next to his dad before leaning in and kissing Baekhyun’s cheeks.

‘I’m still mad over that’, Baekhyun pouts, but the smile on his face and the cheer in his voice didn’t seem like the boy minded anymore, reaching his hand out to hold onto Jongin’s.

‘How are you? Are you okay?’, Jongin asks, stroking the boy’s hair back with his other hand, ‘You shouldn’t have stayed in the building for that long. When the fire alarm goes off, you run down and save yourself’

‘But there was a meeting going on and they were all locked inside the room’, Baekhyun whines, feeling disappointed once his boyfriend starts to nag at him, ‘I couldn’t just leave them there’

‘Then inform the firefighters when you get down. They’ll be able to get them out’, Jongin’s voice rises unnecessarily, his dad pulling his arm a bit, his eyes ordering him to calm down a bit.

‘It’s okay, Kai was there to save me anyway’, he gleams at the mention of the hero, one which made the atmosphere slightly tensed, Jongin feeling his dad’s eyes staring at him.

‘Yeah, I’m sure glad he was there…’, Jongin utters with no emotions whatsoever, just looking down at the soft and dainty hands of his boyfriend, watching the way it curls with his.

 

* * *

 

‘Look, don’t get me wrong. I still hate the kid’

‘Thanks dad’, Jongin rolls his eyes as he walks over to the end of the corridor after the doctor informed that visiting hours have ended, the two of them saying their goodbyes to Baekhyun before walking out of the hospital, Jongin teleporting them back into the restaurant.

‘I’m just saying, he’s still annoying’, his dad raises his hand up truthfully, ‘But…’, he looks around the closed restaurant, having to close it earlier at the news of his son being in the hospital after a mission, ‘It might be a good idea to maybe come clean to Baekhyun’

‘Excuse me?’, Jongin tilts his head, turning around to look at his dad in the eyes, ‘What do you mean come clean?’

‘Just… Hear me out’, his dad calls over, walking inside the kitchen and checking if anything was out of place, his voice awkward and his movement even more so, ‘Maybe it’s not so bad for Baekhyun to know who you are’

‘You want me to reveal myself to him? Are you nuts? Just yesterday you were lecturing me about trying to keep it hidden’

‘I know, but if you trust Baekhyun, maybe if he knows, he’ll make sure to keep it a secret to the rest of the world’, his dad finally makes eye contact with him when Jongin teleports into the kitchen, confused if it was actually his father talking, ‘If someone from the inside knows about you, they can protect you from being revealed, you know, maybe send Essence sniffing the other way?’

‘Dad, you’re out of your mind’, Jongin laughs at him, shaking his head.

‘What? Do you not trust him?’

‘Of course, I do’, Jongin tells his dad, combing his hair back from his eyes, ‘But that’s not the point’

‘Then what is the point?’

‘I don’t want him to be bearing such a massive secret’, Jongin explains, ‘He doesn’t need to have something like this to keep. He’s gonna go crazy trying to keep the secret to himself and I don’t need him to go and do something stupid and possibly lose his job over it’, Jongin looks over to his dad, seeing the way he looks at him, his usual soft face which he always makes whenever he sees him being upset, ‘I’m not going to do that to him’

‘You know, that’s exactly what I thought when contemplating about telling your mother’, Jongin’s dad replies, looking down and fiddling with the handle of one of the kitchen drawers, ‘I didn’t want her to have to worry about it, nor did I want her to go crazy with trying to keep my secret, well… A secret’

Jongin knew how much his dad avoided trying to talk about her, so he knew his saddened expression was real and still raw even after all these years.

‘But, sometimes, I wish I had told her’, he finally points out, ‘Sometimes, I wonder, if she had known, would our relationship be more truthful? Hiding something as big as my powers came back to bite me in the ass when she hid the fact that she was dying’

‘Dad…’

‘She didn’t tell any of us what was happening to her and I was too busy trying to save the earth to notice…’, Jongin looks down, feeling low at the mention of his mother who had left them too early, Jongin barely being a child then.

‘I don’t want you to be hiding too many things from Baekhyun… Like I said… He’s an annoying piece of shit, but he means well… And might actually be good for you’, Jongin laughs at his dad’s description of Baekhyun, his hard shell still dictating how he spoke, but he was glad that Baekhyun was finally breaking into him.

‘Thanks dad’

‘Plus, I don’t think I can see you with anyone else. Gosh, you’re so fucking useless at dating, I highly doubt you’ll be dating anyone else for the rest of your life if Baekhyun ever dumps you’

‘Dad!’

 

* * *

 

Chanyeol walks down the hallway of the hospital, looking down at his phone and seeing endless of messages from his sister and father, all in the capital and screaming for him to come home. He knew he was going to come home in s shit fest, especially over what he pulled during his mission. His father was probably going to strip him off some of his inheritance, but he just shrugs it off. He’ll work it out with the old man.

‘Hey! Mr Park!’, he heard his name being shouted at, someone from the end of the corridor running up to him in a big hospital gown.

‘Byun Baekhyun?’, god. Here we go again. He did not need to entertain the journalist, it’s late at night and he needs his sleep.

‘Mr Park, I heard what happened over the news’, Baekhyun informs him breathlessly, having to lawn over the wall after running after the tall billionaire, ‘You’re LOEY?’

‘Well, how did you think I know about LOEY and Suho?’, Chanyeol points out, watching Baekhyun scrunch his face in sudden realisation.

‘Dammit’, he whispers, ‘That’s probably why Kai visits your penthouse too’, he says aloud, feeling more stupid as he slowly pieces everything together, ‘God, how I would’ve loved to have written your identity reveal’, he whispers, looking up to notice Chanyeol having heard his statement and giving him a bored glare, ‘Sorry… I mean… I just…’

‘Never mind’, Chanyeol shrugs it off, clenching his teeth. Baekhyun is lucky that his boyfriend is Jongin, otherwise, he wouldn’t know what he would do to the journalist.

‘I wonder if maybe you’ll be up for an interview?’

‘An interview?’, Chanyeol repeats in disbelief, ‘Aren’t you supposed to be in bedrest after being in a burning building?’, Chanyeol points out, crossing his arms over his chest, not believing how shameless Baekhyun sounded.

‘Yeah, I know… And I know you’re probably annoyed but…’, Baekhyun kicks at nothing, his hands fiddling the ends of his sleeves, ‘You see… I actually have a boyfriend… And I don’t like the idea of him having to pay for my medical bills’, Chanyeol straighten his posture at the mention of Jongin, ‘If I can get an interview with you, I’m sure to get a pay rise, so I can pay him back’

Chanyeol rolls his eyes. Baekhyun should really be lucky that he’s Jongin’s boyfriend.

_‘Fine’_

 

* * *

 

 

 

‘Chanyeol, you’re a piece of shit’, Junmyeon rolls the newspaper, using it as a hammer to beat the shit out of his new boyfriend, ‘What the fuck was you thinking?’

‘What did I do now?!’, Chanyeol yells the moment he walks out of the elevator door and at the top of the IHA building, seeing Junmyeon’s seething rage the moment they make eye contact.

‘Always so clingy? Since when have I been clingy? I hate you’

‘Hate? Then why did you agree to go out with me?’

‘Pretty much the question everyone is thinking’, Jongdae whispers to Jongin, the two of them hanging out together, reading the news on their phones whilst sitting on the bean bags, the rookie heroes too scared to approach them but continue to stare at them in awe. They continue to listen to the new couple argue with each other like they’ve been married for about half a century, Jongin scrolling through Twitter to find masses amount of news coming from Essence’s account despite their biggest headquarters being burnt to the ground recently.

 

   

 

‘Essence is definitely having a field day despite being homeless’, Jongdae looks over Jongin’s shoulders, reading the tweets and snorting at the spam of news from a certain gossip site.

‘Gotta hand it to them. They’re still working nonstop, I mean they hit big with a personal interview with _that_ one’, Jongin gestures his chin upwards to where Chanyeol was, observing the way the two have stopped arguing and are now sitting side by side with a cup of coffee shared between them, their hands intertwined.

‘They’ve got your boyfriend to thank for that’, Jongdae points out, raising a suspicious brow towards Jongin, ‘Which reminds me… Why would Chanyeol be willing to sit down with him for an interview when he refuses interviews from other news sites. I mean, he told Forbes to go fuck themselves once’

‘He was drunk, and they were asking too many questions about his sister’s marriage’, Jongin defends him. ‘Plus, he was going through a spoilt brat phase’

‘Yixing never went through a spoilt brat phase’

‘That’s because he’s Yixing’, Jongin laughs, the four heroes being inside the building despite none of them being on call, a meeting about how the rookie heroes should start picking up some of the missions after passing their final training, but since Chanyeol has no place to go for peace and quiet and Jongdae also suffers from paparazzi coming over at his place, the heroes have made the IHA building their safe haven for now, Jongin and Junmyeon keeping the others company.

‘You saw the new rookie hero?’, Chanyeol points out, ‘I heard him ass licking Yixing when I was on my way up here’, Junmyeon hits Chanyeol’s arms for his profanity, looking around to see if anyone can hear them.

‘Don’t be too pissy, I’m sure he only wants to make a good first impression’

‘His power is to control wind, how useful is he going to be?’, Chanyeol snorts, sipping the rest of his coffee before standing up, ‘Jongin, I’m feeling some of your dad’s food today, let’s get going’

‘Not when your face is on every billboard and magazine’, Jongin points out, still seated on the bean bag, ‘One small step and my identity along with my dad’s is on the line’

‘I’ll wear a mask’, Chanyeol whines, ‘I’m really hungry right now’

‘Ergh, fine!’, Jongin whines but he stands up anyway, putting his phone away, ‘But you are walking in fifteen minutes after me, got it?’, he points to both Chanyeol and Jongdae, grabbing Junmyeon’s hand and teleporting straight to his dad’s kitchen, appearing unnoticed and slipping past the many customers his dad has, sitting down at the far end table at the corner of the restaurant, hidden by other tables.

‘Why is your boyfriend here?’, Junmyeon whispers when he notices a familiar boy waiting on tables and holding to a bunch of empty plates walking their way.

‘Baekhyun?’, Jongin calls out, instantly standing up and walking over to where he is, ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Well, I didn’t want to keep staying in the hospital, so I forced the doctors to check up on me and finally dismiss me’, Baekhyun explains, tiptoeing to kiss Jongin’s lips, ‘I thought I’d come over to visit but you weren’t here. Your dad said you were just doing some errands, so I thought I’ll take over your work for a bit’

‘Babe, you shouldn’t even be working’, Jongin whines, grabbing the dirty dishes from him, ‘Go and sit down, I’ll handle it from here’, which in return shouldn’t be the thing to say since Baekhyun just nodded and goes to sit I his old seat, next to Junmyeon who is in the middle of a heart attack, quickly texting Chanyeol not to come in just yet.

Baekhyun notices the man that Jongin walked in with, his boyfriend disappearing inside the kitchen, probably to tell off his dad for letting him work. He looks over, seeing the way the man was hunched over, hiding his phone with his hand as he types with his other, his head hung low.

‘Hello’, Baekhyun, being the social butterfly that he is, slides over next to the mysterious man, waving at him, ‘So, did you come here with Jongin?’, he waits for the man to answer, but all he got was a nod, which didn’t stop him from talking to him, he just simply smiles back, ‘So, are you and Jongin close?’, the man nods again, this time Baekhyun tilts his head, trying to read the man’s response and not knowing why he was feeling awkward around him. He wondered if Jongin told anything weird about him since the man had no sense in keeping secrets, he thought maybe Jongin might have spilt something.

‘Hey’, Jongin comes back, looking at a terrified-looking Junmyeon and instantly coming to the rescue, ‘C’mon Baekhyun, let’s go home’, Jongin reaches his hand out, waiting for the latter to grab it.

‘Oh, we’re leaving?’, he didn’t the two of them making eye contact since Jongin was quick to drag him out, pulling him to the side and warning Junmyeon to keep his head low just in case. He didn’t know how observant Baekhyun is and he didn’t need any more heroes being identified, especially now that Yixing is checking up on them.

Baekhyun wasn’t one to complain much, allowing Jongin to drag him out of the restaurant, practically sprinting as they turn the other way, Jongin quickly spotting Chanyeol and Jongdae in a face mask and bucket hats to cover their faces, hiding behind the dumpsters by the side of the alley, Jongin quickly turning a corner before Baekhyun turns his head to spot the two crouching down.

‘Gosh, you know you’ll be the death of me’, Jongin gasps once they’re out of sight, twisting Baekhyun around to face him, leaning his forehead against the latter, the both of them paused, still in their tracks as Jongin leans in, lapping at Baekhyun soft lips, thin and refined compared to his plump ones, his hands sliding around Baekhyun’s waist.

‘And what deserves the honour to be tasting your lips so early in the day?’, Baekhyun giggles, playfully leaning back over when Jongin breaks the kiss to admire his puppy-like face, resting the tip of his nose against Jongin’s.

‘Nothing. You just look beautiful as always’, Jongin whispers, feeling himself let go and kissing him again and again, pecking his lips, travelling down to his chin, then to his jaws, travelling up to his cheeks, peppering the sweet boy with sweet kisses.

Of course, Jongin’s guilty conscious has been gnawing at him ever since he saw Baekhyun’s pouting face, a loss at the thought of Baekhyun feeling low and dejected whilst waiting for him to visit at the hospital. He didn’t have any choice but to wait for Yixing to get rid of any evidential scars, but he still felt awful into making Baekhyun think that he wasn’t important enough to be visited.

‘Why don’t we just have a lazy day today?’, Jongin murmurs, resting his head on Baekhyun’s cheeks, his whispering breath landing on the short journalist’s neck, ‘Me, you, a cosy bed… Maybe even some cereal whilst we watch our favourite show’

Baekhyun tiptoes so his lips can reach Jongin’s, smiling up at him.

‘I would like that’, he whispers, chuckling when Jongin lifts him up from the ground for a couple of seconds before twirling him around, intertwining their hands together as they make their way over to the next street where their small apartment is.

It didn’t take long before the mood is ruined, Jongin feeling a sudden quake beneath his feet, the shaking of the pebbles and rocks on the ground along with the whining of a dog who senses danger can be heard.

‘What the fuck?’, he hisses, feeling himself lose balance as the ground no longer felt solid, turning into a soft jelly substance which stuck to his shoes. His grip on Baekhyun tightens as he looks up to his terrified boyfriend, looking down at the now jelly formed ground.

The screaming of bystanders catches both their attention as they hear explosions from the other side of the street, a crowd of stampeding humans running away from another machine looking device which had rolled itself into the city.

_For fuck’s sake._

The phone buzzing inside his back pockets was enough confirmation that something stupid was up and along with the screaming and weird looking device who has a life of its own shooting the familiar iced blocks which turn into jelly and sinks everyone low into the ground like a sinking sand, Jongin knew instantly what the fuck was up.

‘I’m going to kill Xiumin’, he growls to himself, trying to pull Baekhyun towards him.

‘What the hell is going on? Is this Xiumin again?’, the journalist noticed the familiar looking ice cubes which lands onto the floor, turning into some kind of jelly monster, much like during the previous attack. He turns to look worriedly at Jongin, not wanting to be apart from him like last time, his hands never leaving the other, ‘Jongin, we need to get to someplace safe’, his voice is shaking, nervous and scared.

Jongin had no other way of moving. The substance was wrapped around his shoes like glue and the more he moved, the more they would sink lower, and he didn’t feel like being drowned by one of Dr Xiumin’s inventions. He knew there was only one way for them to escape, but Baekhyun was here. He can’t teleport them out of here without Baekhyun knowing. His eyes scan his surrounding, trying to see if he can find anything to hit Baekhyun in the head with, but they were in the middle of the pavement with his hands already occupied in keeping Baekhyun near him. He had no other way to keep Baekhyun from seeing anything.

‘Baekhyun, baby’, Jongin hugs onto Baekhyun, bringing him closer so that their chests are touching, ‘Baby?’

‘What?’, Baekhyun responds with worry and fright in his voice, his brows crunched as he looks around them, the floor no longer being cement and flinching at the sound of more explosions, confining in Jongin’s hold, leaning his head on his chest and closing his eyes.

‘Babe, please tell me you love me’

‘What?’

‘Just tell me you love me’

‘Why are you saying that? Are you ganna die?’, he immediately looks up to stare at Jongin’s eyes which looked calm despite the situation that they’re in.

‘No, we’re not. But, I just need to know’

‘Of course, I fucking love you’

‘Good’, Jongin sighs, ‘Then you can easily forgive me’, Jongin whispers. Baekhyun couldn’t make sense of what Jongin said, he didn’t have time to since his vision blurred and was welcomed with flashing rainbows and floating shapes before he is brought back to reality, but this time, their reality isn’t being stuck in the middle of the pavement by one of Dr Xiumin’s inventions, but being inside their very own apartment, still huddled together but under the comfort of their living room.

‘What the fuck?!’, Baekhyun screeches the moment he realises where he is, spinning around in circles in disbelief. He could’ve sworn he was outside a minute ago? How in the world did he end up here? And why was Jongin walking away from him and running into their bedroom, ‘Jongin, what the hell just happened?’, he calls out to him, chasing after the boy only to see him pulling something out from one of their drawers.

A mask.

It was white in colour, plain and humble, sort of like a balaclava. A similar mask to what Kai would wear during his missions.

‘What the fuck are you doing with that?’, Baekhyun yells, pointing at the small piece of clothing which means so much more now that Baekhyun is staring at his boyfriend with wide eyes and an open mouth.

‘Babe, you told me that you loved me’, Jongin raises his hand in surrender, ‘You gotta keep that thought for a moment, okay?’, he pleads with Baekhyun, hearing another explosion which made the both of them turn to face the window, seeing the device nearing their street, becoming bigger at each step, ‘Love you, babe!’, he shouts at Baekhyun, leaving the rest of his costume and just donning in his shirt and denim jeans, putting on his mask which hides his face before teleporting out and disappearing right in front of Baekhyun who was ready to throw a punch at the sudden revelation.

‘Fuck’, he calls out to himself, grabbing a piece of his hair, tugging it to check if this was real, ‘That was Kai… Jongin just became Kai…’, he keeps whispering to himself, punching into his brain that he’s been dating a hero all this time, ‘I’m dating _Kai?!’_

 

* * *

 

Kai teleports straight on top of the device, clawing at the metal as it feels the pace quicken, making him lose his balance for a moment. He looks around to find people struggle to escape due to the floor sucking them in, a few of them even waist deep in whatever Xiumin had created.

He knew he’s on his own. Chanyeol and the rest were probably also sucked into the substance, unable to escape unless Chanyeol has the ability to burn the substance out. He’s not as smart as Junmyeon or Jongdae when it comes to mechanics or engineer, so he had no idea how to turn the thing off and he didn’t have the power to simply destroy the machine. He looks around, trying to find a soft spot in which he can kick through, so he can disconnect some of the wires inside, but everything is made so refined and perfect Kai almost hated Dr Xiumin’s intelligence. The box-shaped machine continued to walk with its four legs along with holes at each side which released the ice cube from hell.

He’s just about to side down to try and close one of the holes when he feels something vibrating in his back pocket, his phone receiving a call.

Just in case it was Chanyeol or one of the people in the IHA headquarters, he brings his hand down, reaching for the phone and looking down on it.

_Byun Baekhyun._

‘Babe! I don’t have the time to talk!’, Jongin didn’t know what came over him when he answered the phone, but he was already freaking out about the evil machine with Dr Xiumin’s logo pasted all over it that his basic instinct was to do something even dumber as to answer his phone during an attack.

‘Teleport in and detach its main receptor!’, he hears Baekhyun’s voice screaming at him.

‘What?!’, he yells back, not really knowing what Baekhyun is yelling about, gripping at the metal edge as he feels the machine turns, his body sliding down and nearly falling off.

‘I just googled every machine Dr Xiumin has ever invented and there’s always the main receptor which is the main energy source of his machines that emits all the power!’, Baekhyun explains, Kai, putting the phone on speaker since another loud explosion roars out, ‘If you teleport in and dismantle it, it will stop instantly!’

 _Shit._ Why didn’t he think of that?

‘Thanks babe’, he yells on the phone before he hangs up, teleporting inside the machine and instantly regretting it as he feels a wave of heat punching him in the face, his body squished against the electrical wire that can kill him if he touches it.

He just needs to know what the main receptor looks like and he’ll be good to go.

_Good to go his ass._

‘I’m a cook, not a mechanic’, he whines, sliding his phone back up and quickly dialling Jongdae’s number.

‘Jongin!’, he hears Jongdae’s screeching voice.

‘Hey buddy, I’m inside the machine right now and I have a question’, Kai asks nonchalantly and with a calm voice, contrasting Jongdae’s mental breakdown screeching. He crouches down, breathing heavily as the tight space and unbearable heat starts to take a toll on him.

‘What?!’, Jongdae continues to screech like a T-rex, ‘What do you want Jongin?!’

‘What does the main receptor look like?’

‘It’s just a box looking thing with a lot of wires coming out of it!’, Jongin looks around to find at least a couple of dozens of boxes looking things with wires coming out of it.

‘Can you be more specific please?’, Kai yells back, trying to see if he can spot a different looking one.

‘What the fuck are you looking for anyway?’

‘The main fucking receptor that turns this whole shit on!’

‘It’s the biggest one! Look for the biggest one and turn it off!’

‘Okay fine! No need to be angry with me!’, Kai screams over the phone, crawling around the thing, his face sweating under his mask as he looks up to try and find the biggest receptor.

‘I’m waist deep in fucking goo! I have every right to be screaming right now!’

‘If you can control your fucking boyfriend for once, maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess!’

‘For the last fucking time! He is not my boyfriend! Now fucking fix this mess so I can beat the shit out of Xiumin!’, Jongdae hangs up on him, Kai leaning his head on his hands as he feels his vision blur. He needed to calm down for a bit, his head spinning at the smell of something toxic filling his lungs. He continues to crawl inside the anatomy of the machine, looking up to find a rather heavy and big cylinder shape with wires coming out of it everywhere.

_Jackpot._

He quickly crawls over to where the main receptor is, grabbing hold of it and flinching at the touch of something extremely hot, looking down to find his hands burning red. He stands, his back still crouched due to the small space, but he grips onto the walls of the machine, lifting his foot up and kicking the device, repeatedly, making dents and bumps, trying to tear the thing off.

It didn’t work. The main receptor stayed firmed inside. Kai needed a different plan, He looks around, seeing a pipe which lines itself up to one of the holes, emitting another ice cube into the streets. He walks over to one of the pipes, stretching his hand over and aiming straight to the head of the pipes, waiting or another throw.

‘Argh!’, he screams once he catches an ice cube, the ice-cold touch burning his skin as he carries it over back into the middle, resting it on top of the main receptor before landing onto the floor face first, hands covering his ears as he waits for it.

 

* * *

 

‘Fuck!’, Baekhyun screams the moment he sees the device exploding with Jongin still inside. He’s the only person to run out of a perfectly safe building, jumping out of the entrance of his apartment and onto the street bench, looking down at the still growing substance which continues to sink. He jumps to a parked car, watching it sink beneath him before jumping into another one, trying hard to run to Jongin, to see if he’s okay.

He sees no extra cars by the turn of the street so he jumps straight into the ground, feeling himself sink low, but he runs as much as he can before the ground can swallow him, quickly taking off his shoes and climbing up to another street bench, jumping up, his hands stretched and gripping onto one of the street lamps, using it to swing his body onto another car until he sees the rumbles of the machine and with it, a man laying on the cement ground, unconscious.

‘Jongin!’. He yells, jumping and landing on the untouched cement ground, feeling his feet smack the solid floor, but he didn’t care for the pain, he just needed to be by Jongin’s side, ‘Jongin!’, he continues to scream, landing on his knees as he drags Jongin out of the rubble, his mask torn at the bottom edge, the bottom half of his face is visible, confirming to Baekhyun of what he had seen only a few minutes ago.

‘Baby? Baby, you okay? Hey’, he starts shaking him, his eyes quivering and his hands holding onto him tightly, no one around them since the substance continued to have everyone glued to the ground, ‘Help! Anyone?! Help us! We need help!’, he turns around and starts yelling, at nobody, at everybody, as someone who can hear them, ‘Jongin! Please wake up’, he cradles the hero’s head in his arms, rocking himself back and forth, closing his eyes as he feels his breathing tighten at the sight of a hurt Jongin.

And to think he’s been hiding so many injuries from him this whole time.

‘Kim Jongin, please… Please wake up so I can kick your ass’, he whines, holding him close, feeling a dampening under his eyes, his vision blurring his swirls, a flashing of rainbow grazing the landscape before he comes back into reality. But this time, his reality is no longer kneeling in the middle of the street, crying for his boyfriend to wake up, but they’re now back inside their apartment, the both of them on top of the bed. He’s still kneeling over Jongin but still time he sees movement, Jongin’s hand reaching up to tear away his constraint, Baekhyun’s eyes flashing on Jongin’s face, decorated in ashes and scratches, his eyes still closed but his breathing heavy, Baekhyun feeling the rise and fall of his chest against his hands.

‘Gosh, I was on holiday as well…’, Jongin whines, finally opening his eyes and staring up at Baekhyun’s tear-filled ones, ‘Babe?’

…

‘You fucking idiot!’, there was a pause before Baekhyun starts to hit Jongin, punching his arms and kicking at his legs at the sight of Jongin with a Kai mask, ‘You stupid idiot!’, he continues to yell, Jongin laughing as he tries to reach out and stop Baekhyun from further assaulting him, ‘I Can’t believe – I can’t even – You! You fucking – Ergh!’, Baekhyun continues to take out his frustration over Jongin, feeling the latter’s tight grip around his waist, dragging him down to lay on the bed with him.

‘Babe! You told me you love me! Think about that!’, Jongin tries to defuse the situation, but Baekhyun wasn’t having it.

‘You’re Kai?! All this fucking time!’, Baekhyun roars, still kicking Jongin despite the tight hold he had on him, ‘All this fucking time!? I – I can’t even – I should’ve known!’

‘C’mon babe’, Jongin giggles, whining when Baekhyun kicks a bruised part of his stomach, Baekhyun instantly stopping and turning back to looking worried at Jongin’s pained expression.

‘Baby, are you okay?’, Baekhyun pouts, reaching his hand out to cup Jongin’s cheeks together, ‘You alright? You need to go to the doctors! You were inside of an explosion!’

‘Don’t worry, it’s not the first time I’ve done this’, Jongin hisses, lifting his shirt up to find countless of cuts and bruises. He probably needs to call Yixing for the deep one which had started to bleed excessively.

‘Babe…’, Baekhyun cries at the sight, sliding his hand down and resting it on his stomach, feeling the blood on his fingertips, ‘Babe…’

‘Don’t worry. We have a healer that can fix me up right away’, Jongin comforts Baekhyun who continues to cry over him, pulling him in and hugging him, ‘I should probably get going. I’ve got a long press conference I need to be attending’

 

* * *

 

Kai, wearing his Gucci designed suit, sits alone behind a small table, a microphone thrust in his hand as he is blinded by countless of flashes of the camera, screams from reporters waving their microphone around, asking endless amount of the usual questions.

_How did you manage to dismember the machine?_

_Will you be arresting Dr Xiumin? You’ve been lenient with him all this time and he continues to cause destruction._

_Do you have any thoughts about the consequences of your actions? The streets are completely tarnished by the explosion._

_God, Jongin wishes the ground was still jelly so they can all sink along with their questions._

_‘Where was LOEY when the attack happened?’_

‘I don’t know, but it seemed like he was also trapped by the jelly, so he was unable to join me’

‘And how did you manage your first mission alone for the first time in years?’

‘It was hard but it wasn’t like I was alone. Despite not being physically with me, my fellow heroes managed to help me out along with another person’

‘And who is this other person?’, he hears a question from a familiar voice, his eyes landing on a boy holding an old recording tape, his short hair combed down, wearing an oversized sweatshirt which most definitely belonged to him.

Jongin smiles at the sight of the Essence journalist reaching his hand out to record his voice.

He had found a stash of cassette tapes with his voice recorded onto it, a cursive and messy handwriting of the name Kai written with a pen marker, along with a small heart doodled by the side.

Baekhyun has always had a crush on him, even before they officially met.

‘Just a special person I can’t live without’

‘Live without huh?’, Baekhyun calls out, the rest of the reporters listening intently to the sudden change of conversation, ‘And how special is this person to you?’

‘Very special. A one of a kind guy’, he says into the microphone, everyone else asking for more information about the identity of the special person he mentions, not knowing that he was standing amongst them with a playful smile on his face, his eyes never leaving his as they stand on opposite sides, perfect for them to reach out for each other.

Kai tries to suppress a smile which had threatened to display, not wanting to ruin his secret which stands in front of him, beautiful and so fucking patient.

_I’ll see you at home._

He sees Baekhyun mouthing his last words before he watches his boyfriend disappear to the back of the crowd, probably already getting enough of what he needed to write another article. He felt slightly disappointed by his departure, but it was replaced with a wave of excitement at the thought of Baekhyun waiting patiently for him when he gets home.

His thoughts sounded exactly like Chanyeol’s, but he didn’t care.

He was going to get good sex tonight.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
